


1001 Nights in Their Garden

by ChiRhoAO



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Heartbreak, Light-Hearted, Romance, Sappy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-22 10:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 24,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22714915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiRhoAO/pseuds/ChiRhoAO
Summary: Steven Universe made a new friend while cleaning, and she's a bit of a mess. Worse luck, the whole world might be on the line if he can't keep her entertained.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Spinel/Steven Universe
Comments: 19
Kudos: 56





	1. The Frame

**First Day**

**The Frame**

_My name is Steven Universe, I'm 19 years old, and I'm being held hostage by an insane Pink Gem who is threatening to blow up my planet if I don't play with her, and tell her stories every day._

Troubles began while I was cleaning the area around the warp pad. Lion likes to run around the room a lot, and this time of year he sheds everywhere.

So I was in there sweeping when I slipped one of Lion's toys and fell into the warp. I thought the thing was broken, oh boy was I wrong. The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of this immense, and overgrown garden.

I let out a low whistle in amazement as I walked through the place. It reminded me of an old picture book Connie and I had read over winter break. Everything was dark and unkempt, like something out of a haunted house. Why didn't I leave then and there? Why, oh why?

It must've been a couple of hours before I became aware that I wasn't alone. It started as some vaguely heard laughter but quickly evolved into the sound of vague squeaking, and dark mutterings.

"Oh my Diamond, shall I stand very still, oh it is my pleasure! Oh anything for my best friend!" I'll stand here, watching and waiting," she continued, now shouting, "For 6000 years as you run off and get yourself a brand new life… on a brand new world and you and you! You go and get yourself a replacement! Ha hehe hahahah! Oh wait til all her new friends get a look at me… so nice of those diamonds to leave so many nice toys within' reach of poor, innocent lil' Spinel."

I had no idea who she was, and what was that about the Diamonds leaving toys? It was so surreal, and I began to slowly walk away with my shield for protection. That's when she became aware that I was walking in her garden. A hand suddenly reached out and pulled me by my jacket.

That's when I came face-to-face with the unhinged lunacy of that fuchsia demon. "Well, well, well, Pink Diamond finally decided to show up to play, sorry kid yer a few thousand years too late!" Her smile was wide and malicious. It didn't take a genius to see I was trapped.

I nervously managed, "Spinel right? Yes, I've ummmh… come to make amends."

"Oh and how do you intend to make up 6000 years!" She was practically growling.

"Uhmmm… what do you want?"

She started pacing again, back and forth, "Hmm? Now there's a question," she motioned to an injector that was planted in a moon that had a large heart shaped whole. "I think I'll just take a little trip to your planet and have some fun destroying everything you love! Sounds good to me."

"The gems will"… Suddenly she struck me with a scythe. I thought I was dead, instead, what she had done made my shield short out. She put it away and tackled me to the ground.

"Steven Universe, savior of the planet Earth, hero of Homeworld. Hahahahehehehe, how does it feel being as weak as all the other meat balloons on your planet. I could kill you now!" Her eyes seemed disjointed as she said this, traveling around before staring back.

"I can see that you're in pain over this."

"Oh yeah, what was your first clue!"

I had to think fast, "The other's didn't hurt you, I'm the one you want, not them."

This gave her pause. She returned to pacing, leaving me struggling on the ground. I had just stumbled my way into another one of my mom's messes. The fact that this insane gem might arbitrarily turn me into a corpse didn't give me high hopes.

She spent what seemed like ages pacing back and forth, hands behind back. Up and down, left and right, at last she got uncomfortably close. I flinched, "What's the matter Universe, not a big fan of my style?" She pulled at her pig tails."

In a life threatening situation, what would you do? "I love it, you look great."

Her whole mood changed in an instant as her smile seemed far more innocent. "Y-you really think so, I- thought it'd scare you." She shrunk back a little.

Then she became enraged, and ran around toppling columns. She suddenly based back in my direction. I was still too weak to even try to resist.

"Let's pretend I believe you, huh?" She sank down beside him. "How could you pay me back."

"You could come to Earth and live with us, the gems and the rest of us. It's great there, and with the war over there's plenty of new friends."

She giggled. It was malicious but not quite as insane as before. "Oh so you want me to punish you, by letting you go free and return to your other friends. I'm not interested in being the punchline of another persons sick joke kid, so think again."

"Well if I can't take you back, then what? Do I stay here and play whatever games you come up with, tell you stories, listen to your jokes? Then if I lie or run, you destroy my home." I meant this as the most insane leap in logic I could manage.

"Ok. I could live with that."

My heart sank. Didn't she know I was still half human? She didn't say anything about how long either. His powers had vanished and she presumably had all the keys.

"So what now?" I asked. "If I'm going to be here for a while I'll need supplies…" She wouldn't even consider that. Instead she wandered over to the control console and pressed a few buttons.

She seemed somewhat defused then suddenly held out her scythe against my neck. "Know this though, try to run, and I'll kill you. No," there was that devilish grin again, "I'll make you watch my injector destroy your planet."

I interrupted, "And then you'll kill me."

She rubbed my head, "Awe such a cute little abomination of nature."

"I still have to eat?"

"This is a garden, it can produce anything you want?" She sat back down beside him, and leaned against his shoulder. "Pink used to tell me stories, tell me one huh?"

"A story?"

"Yes, she'd go on for hours." She sounded rather dreamlike as the gem recalled stories of adventures that they could never actually go on. It sent shivers up my spine to see her relax and recline so easily, after being so violent. I was terrified at what her next change in personality would be.

"What kind of story?"

"Tell me one about you and me, Pink."

I knew that I could connect with other gems and humans in my sleep. I never stopped to consider how mom might have used it. Suddenly I was flying through a pink and Orange sky.

She was right beside me, only wasn't her. This gem was bright pink, and her heart shaped gem was right side up. Rather than seeming insane, this gem seemed to be totally content.

The gem wrapped me in a hug as we continued the long, floating descent. "Oh Pink I waited so long and I'm soo glad your back."

I was completely confused, and just when I thought things were settling down… that's when life got really weird.

Pearl pointed her spear at me, "You miscreant tell us where the treasure is hidden!"

The jasper guards tied us up with heavy ropes.

Spinel, who was smiling brightly said, "Woah! Pink this is your best story yet!"

Crazy as it sounds, that's the way it began. Wonder what would've happened if I had gotten away? Just five minutes might've saved the world, but I guess I'll never know.

**Next Time-**

**The First Night- Spinel's Treasure**


	2. Spinel's Treasure I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven really shouldnt have binge watched so many Indiana Jones movies...

**First Night- Spinel's Treasure I**

_My name is Steven Universe, and I am 19 years old. I finally thought I had put my mother's demons to rest. Now I am trapped in a decaying garden with an insane pink gem who will destroy the Earth if I don't keep her entertained._

So much for happily ever after…

As I stared at the very real spear just inches from my face, I began to regret having watched all those adventure movies the day before. Pearl herself had become quite the fan after she became tired of all those poorly dubbed kung-foo movies.

You know those adventure movies, the ones with the professor who goes hunting for strange artifacts in unknown regions of the world with his trusty whip and instincts. It was clear from the khaki that I was wearing that I was going to pay very dearly for binging them all the previous night.

"Mr. Universe," she said, "You have made a mess of my plans for the last time?"

"Heard those words before you old bat," was my reply. Stars, did I just say that?

Some of the Jasper guards started to laugh. The pearl took it personally, and looked like a tea pot about to whistle. "Guards, bring out the prisoner!"

Spinel laughed, "Good one Pink that'll teach'er good."

I muttered, "Spinel, the ropes, think you…" She looked me in the eye and nodded.

One of the Jaspers, a particularly mean looking one with marble skin pulled a bag out of a nearby truck. It squirmed like a caught fish. She tossed it to the ground where it landed with a soft thud.

Pearl twirled her spear and with a swift strike, cut the bag open. A Peridot emerged from it, furious.

"You miserable clods, just who the devil do you think you are, I'm the director of antiquities for this whole kingdom, I have PhD's in archaeology, ethnology…!" She started to look around, then her heart sunk when she looked me in the eyes. "Steven…" Sinking to her knees her immaculate, albeit wrinkled dress was splashed in mud.

Pearl smiled, "I did so enjoy our conversation director, why don't you tell the good man and…" She eyed Spinel with scorn, "his little plaything". What you told me about his research.

The Peridot looked at me again, clearly grieved. She spilled everything. Meanwhile, the ropes started to become loose.

"Steven found an amulet that had been mistakenly shipped to the university he is a freshman at. Not being one to miss a chance he spent hours studying the script. That's when he started to consult me in secret, too afraid that what he was searching for would fall into the wrong hands."

The Pearl lifted her spear, "Yes, I am aware as is he, now get to the point."

Peridot looked at me again, then smiled slightly as I winked. She had gotten the hint. Suddenly, she stood up and was far more animated. "His analysis and interpretation was quite impressive. We knew of course from the works of other acclaimed individuals and from my own published works that our gem creators had a knack for double meanings, but he was the first to suggest that the center of the gem, a common symbol…" An act but an impressive one.

The ropes fell to the ground, and Spinel and I dashed off. Unfortunately for poor Peridot, the last thing we heard was a "poof" as we got away. We were both lucky that Jasper are big, bulky, and not that bright. As luck would have it, neither were we.

Paths in front of us seemed to crisscross. The sound of motorized vehicles and spinning tires filled the air. Along with loud swearing.

Spinel scratched her chin in puzzlement, as I stopped to catch my breath, "Why aren't they moving?"

I grabbed her hand and dragged her along, "This isn't a road, it's a river bed."

There was a different sort of rumbling from above. I continued, "and that is a warning, we've gotta get to the base of this hill before, you know."

"Are all of your adventures so deadly?"

I ignored her as we neared a steep cliff. There was a loud peal of thunder, and then Pearl shouted, "Mr. Universe, you know what all this means don't you. This entire valley is going to flood! Come now, be reasonable and come back here."

I slowly helped Spinel down to the first footing. It was then that I made the eternal mistake of looking down. She looked up at me, hopefully. I whispered to her, "Spinel, you'll be safer here, wait until I start talking to pearl then," she didn't let me finish.

"N-n-no, I won't, don't go, I-was." Tears rolled down her cheeks profusely. Why did she pick now of all times to break down on me?

Pearl was closer now, "Oh Mr. Universe, I don't have all day, see reason will you?"

"Spinel," I continued," I couldn't bear anything happening to you. Not when we're so close to the treasure."

Spinel still held on, "Haven't you figured it out the real treasure is," she never got to finish. The rain started to pour from the sky in a wave that seemed to swallow up every thing in site. My companion stretched herself around me as we began to plummet down the steep embankment.

I could feel the force of gravity about to send me hurtling into the deep oblivion of a canyon below. Normally I'd float, what did she do to my powers. That's when, suddenly…

-Back in the garden-

I let out an immense yawn, as I came too. I felt a shake all over my body, and opening my eyes brought me face to face with my captor.

She was angry as ever, "Well then what happened? Comon' don't end it there!"

I smiled weakly, "I'm still half human, I can't keep this up without sleep." She relented and started to pace around.

Soon I drifted off to sleep. Just before I closed my eyes… did I see a single flower bloom?

**Next Time- Spinel's Treasure Part 2**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: This particular story is my love letter to the Indiana Jones franchise. Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment or kudos, it's much appreciated!


	3. Garden Stroll

**Second Day- Garden Stroll**

_My name is Spinel, and I've taken Steven Universe in payment for your worthless, miserable lives… for now. Things used to be so dull around here, a rotten place falling to dust as I waited for an old friend that broke the only promise that ever mattered to me._

Should I be grateful? No.

Should I be happy? No.

Should I just kill loser and see his planet melted into slag while everyone watches in horror, unable to stop it? Well, its not off the table, not by a long shot.

Its nice to see the sun again, even if it is just as fake as this garden. The garden itself is coming to life again, and not in the same way as before. He's only been here for a day and the grass is growing again. Already flowers are starting to bloom and the water is flowing crystal clear.

Yet still I tear my hair out as the garden builds what it thinks its owner wants, statues of those closest to him and bushes bursting with bright pink flowers. It'll be days before that's finished. I sigh at the thought that it was always hers, and there I was, part of her court. Ha, no not her court, that pearl… she was, I was never more than a piece of the furniture.

No, in the end I wasn't even that, I was a toy discarded, and forgotten. I'm not a toy any more.

Of course you did come back. Why did you wait too long? Did I mean that little to you? Did you forget me?

"Well joke's on me Pink! Joke's on me!" I said to no one in particular. Steven didn't move an inch.

"Maybe you should run. At least then the decision would be made for me."

I walked through the maze out of boredom. Last night his story was… wonderful. I've never left this place, and I meant something to Pink there!

Suddenly enraged by my own admission of vulnerability. I kicked a rock in my path out of frustration. That wasn't enough, so I tore at the greenery and bashed the statues under construction. As always, it did no good. In old times I could laugh and play, it was so good to see her smile. Those days were gone though!

I tried to concern myself with the path of destruction I was making, but even that was no good. In a grand stretch I Pulled a fountain from its base sending water gushing all over the ground. It was shattered in to a mass of unidentifiable metal and plaster.

"How about you huh?" I shook my fist at the garden now. "Do you feel pain? Maybe I should rip your bleeding heart out with my injector. Hehehahahaha! Yeah what a great idea just Pink's little whelp, and me going down with this miserable, stinking abyss!"

I'd threatened to do it often in the three years since he first sent that stupid, stupid, stupid message to the universe. Rather than blow the horn, and just get on with the thing, I laughed, and I cried, pulled on my pig-tails and punched myself until I ran out of energy.

Falling into a heap of outstretched limbs, at last I gave up on the rant. That's when I heard his footsteps. "Here comes Steven Universe, maybe he's finally figured out what's missing, haha…" I thought to myself.

He could've kicked me. I might've even enjoyed that. Instead he placed a hand on my shoulder, "Spinel, I heard all the noise, are you okay?"

Pulling my head up slowly I looked him in the eye, "I really hate you." Suddenly I felt something warm and wet on my back. Confused, I shrank back to the ruins of the fountain, which was still spitting out water.

There was a look of worry on his face. I hated the sympathy I saw in the dark haired halfling's eyes. Something in me relented though. It sounded shy, weak, and helpless. "Magic tears?"

He smiled and offered me his hand, "Not exactly, but hey I guess my powers are coming back." I knocked his hand away. Stars, I could knock him out right now.

Steven surprised me when rather than being angry. He sat down next to me, letting the water splash all over him. Looking around, he whistled low, "Wow."

-Steven-

After a relatively pleasant night's sleep I was greeted by the soothing noises of Spinel having an episode. Not the first time I've had to deal with someone doing this in my time with the Diamond's. Yellow's lead general actually tore her flag ship apart bare handed before she took a nap and her early retirement.

That's how I find myself in an impromptu shower cradling my captor in my arms. She was practically weightless in that state. I moved her to a grassy and sunny part of the garden, before having a look around.

Simply put, I was hungry. The warp pad was certainly tempting. She looked so harmless while she was sleeping. Of course, she had also just pitched a fountain like a tennis ball.

It was in a small corner that noticed a familiar sight. How strawberries got there I'll never know. I attempted to bubble a lot of them, but to it was no good. Did my spit even do anything to Spinel, I thought so, but who knows?

Eventually I just had to stuff them in my jacket. By the time that I found my way back she was pacing again. "I, um found some food."

"Does it surprise you, this garden was designed like everything else, to give Pink whatever she wanted or needed. Thanks for moving me to someplace dry."

"No worries, want a strawberry?"

"For what?"

"They taste good."

She cautiously sat down and ate a few of them. Her eyes went wide at the taste. "Yeah, so when are you gonna finish your story?"

"One second." I spent a few more minutes eating. After that we settled back into the depths of our minds as we sailed straight of a cliff in a powerful storm…

-Back in the Jungle—

What happened next was a bungee jump courtesy of my pink friend. We rolled into a cliff side cave. She giggled, "There I go saving you again Pink! Pink? Pink!"

**Next Time- Spinel's Treasure II**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


	4. Spinel's Treasure II

**The Second Night- Spinel's Treasure II**

_My name is Steven Universe, and this cave is… nothing from my imagination. Instead I found myself going straight down the rabbit hole._

I was too distracted to hear Spinel. This was no natural cave system. The ancient gems that came to this region, presumably after a colony ship crash landed on the planet had left many strange ruins behind.

The survivors of the crash had built this jungle country up, and driven the natives out. What I saw in that cave illustrated history in vivid detail using vivid tiles that seemed to glow in bioluminescent splendor.

She grabbed his hand, "Steven, I neveh meant for ya to see this, you… you need to leave."

"Spinel," I said, pressing my hand to the impressive relief, and to the small pink gem being given a small box by a large blue one, "How old are you?"

The little pink gem was silent as she fell down like a lump of wet noodles on the cave's wet floor. "Is that really the question you wanna ask?"

I chewed on that for a moment, and then it hit me. "All the pranks, all the jokes, you were trying to delay us from finding anything."

She just nodded in the dim light. I turned back to the mural. It seemed to be in roughly chronological order. The next panel contained what appeared to be three ships. "But there were only two in the legend?"

The gem pulled herself back together, still looking totally depressed. "There were only two, the third was something… something horrid."

Spinel grabbed his hand, "When I came to this planet, I couldn't do it, I disobeyed. I never had any regrets either. If I had done what I was commanded, this whole planet would be. I came with an experimental injector, it would have destroyed the plan-"

There was a flash and a sudden burst of pain in my shoulder. It knocked me over. I blinked. Everything seemed to slow. Turning my head, I realized that a familiar spear had pinned me to the cave floor. Weakly, I pulled at it in vain as through the storm beyond, Pearl stepped through.

"Imagine my surprise." Casually she removed the spear from my arm. I winced, then stared in horror at the terror in my friend's face as with a twirl, she struck the heart shaped gem on her chest.

CRACK

Spinel reached for the gem then fell back next to me. "Steven," her form glitching, "I n-nev, th-thiszzz isn't your."

In the heat of the moment, I leaped up knocked the Pearl over. For a second or two I had the upper hand, but only for a second or two. "Spinel what do I do?"

"Yourr… only human… zzz… here."

The Pearl was amused by this, "Indeed, and soon you won't even be able to say that."

"I am not human!" I said feeling my powers return to me.

Pearl wasn't there for such nonsense, she stabbed me straight through the heart this time. I glowed pink. If I weren't so furious over the fact that I had just seen a friend mortally wounded and myself near murdered, I might've pondered this strange new power, and whether it was real.

Pearl clearly did, her eyes now darted back and forth in confusion. Her normal cat-like grace had failed, she was scared. "No, no, it's impossible… she's dead… your dead, you can't possibly be…"

While I was busy pulling Pearl's spear from my chest, Spinel used the last of her strength to strike Pearl with her scythe.

Spinel sighed in relief, "Ssszsteven. I…"

I hurried over and kneeled next to her, "hold on", I licked my hand and held it to her gem. It did the trick.

"Gross. Ya know it wouldn't hurt ya to try a little romance every now and again."

I was off my guard for a moment, and the pearl reformed. She re-emerged in a dazzling spectacle from an oyster shell. "I say Pink, why are we in such a dirty place as this?" Quickly she ran over, producing a cloth from her gem. "Oh no, my Diamond! Please tell me you're not hurt."

Spinel giggled and hugged pearl, "oh Pearl it's so good to have you back."

"Hmm, have we met?" She said, rubbing her chin.

"Of course, I'll tell you all about it tee-hee, why I've known you my whole life."

I was totally lost, "Spinel? You wanna explain what's going on?"

She pinched my cheek, "How about we just go home, Pearl's not going to hurt anyone, and" I grabbed her hand, "let's be done with it."

"I'm really no good with these things. Why do you think I always ask ya?"

This was quickly becoming her story and I wanted to see how she would finish it. Pearl stayed, now unreasonably obsessed with cleaning up the cave. "I have faith in you, tell me your story."

"Well okay," she led me deeper into the cave, relating the story from the tile reliefs.

"I was trusted with the greatest treasure Home World had."

"Right, the injector?"

"Wrong, you, your mom anyway."

"That's impossible, my mom was only a simple rose quartz."

Spinel put her hands on her hips, "uh-huh? You can heal an injured gem."

"Well sure, but." She pressed her fingers to my lips.

"You asked for my story. I'm telling ya, so pipe down."

"Heh, okay Spinel."

We came to another relief, this one of spinel standing with a large pink gem, juggling pink orbs. The next image showed that same gem running off.

"My treasure, my Diamond, left me here. I had always presumed that she had returned to the gem colony." Her last command was to keep the injector from falling into the wrong hands."

I looked back at pearl, still distracted with cleaning. "Well, I guess she won't be hurting anyone again."

Spinel looked down cast again, "So Pink," she kicked at the ground, "All's well that end's well huh, gonna leave me here again?"

"No, not this time, now I cast my gaze on the injector. Not until I can destroy that thing in any event."

"And me, what about your best friend?"

"I'll be here as long as you need me, no matter what."

Now she hopped up and down, "Yippee!"

-The End Of Spinel's Treasure-

**Next Time- Garden Tour**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still a work in progress. A lot more chapters need to be transferred. If your reading this all as one story I'd like to hear your thoughts on my over all style. Most of these early chapters were written on my phone, but around the Fourth Night I started using a laptop. I can only hope that, if not better, the later chapters are at least more comprehensible. As always, thanks so much for reading!


	5. Garden Tour

_My name is Spinel, and I am conflicted. He's here to save his planet. He's here because I have him trapped. He is here to save his planet… right?_

This frustrated me to no end. Stars, why did he have to be so… so… understanding. I tugged at my pig tails. I just wasn't in the mood for vandalism.

A grove of fruit trees had sprung up overnight. I picked a few and brought them to the merry moron who was still fast asleep.

Human beings are weird, disgusting animals. This one was making strange noises as he slept.

"Squatch, shoo, Squaaatch, shoo!" A stream of drool ran down his mouth… _disgusting_.

I attempted to plug the offensive holes with my hands and fingers, but all that did was wake him up. He coughed a little.

"Good morning Spinel."

"Yeah, yeah… whatever." I crossed my arms once twice and a third time to emphasize how little I cared.

_But you do care?_

"Oh pipe down!" She shouted to the air.

"Huh?"

"I wasn't talking to ya." Both paused for a moment, Steven yawned.

His eyes widened when he saw the fruit. "Guess you do care." He smiled at me.

"Not wanting you to die is far from caring. Anyway, what story are you going to tell?"

"Let me think about it," he stretched a little, and looked around. "Wow this place sure has changed. You too."

"Say what?" I walked to a nearby pool and stared into pool. The difference was subtle, but there. Something about my face was a little bit softer. I wouldn't ever be that ditz from before but… _no, no, no, you hate him._ I splashed the water sending ripples that distorted the image.

Steven was already behind me. He patted my back and said, "Don't worry, everything will be." I cut him off and knocked him down.

"Everything will be fine, huh?" I shoved my foot against his chest. I thought about beating him, but then I stopped. I saw the worry in his face. "You're pitying me?"

He stood and brushed off the dust, "maybe we should walk through the garden." I didn't respond I just took his hand and let him lead.

The garden was much bigger than it was when Pink had it. Many times bigger, no clue why. I felt warm, does that make sense? Gems don't get cold, but everything was so easy that day. We passed a statue that was new.

"Whose the human riding the lion?"

"Oh that's Connie, she's my best friend back on Earth."

"I don't like her."

"Oh."

"And besides."

"Besides what."

I smiled for him. "I'm your best friend." Then added, "I'm your only friend." Yeah that will teach the miserable clod.

He chuckled awkwardly, "I suppose your right." He went back to being silent.

Now we passed another one. "Universe, who is this fat over weight slob?"

"That's my dad."

"So he's the reason Pink's gone huh?"

"Yeah, when it comes right down to it." He sighed, "I just wish mom hadn't left so many loose threads."

I found this hilarious, "I guess that I'll have to think him one day for des…" Suddenly I checked myself, but why?

 _She_ abandoned you! _She_ abandoned you, you clod! _She_ had a son who _she_ left all her worries to. I kept it together, barely.

Then we came to the next statue, and I wished my gem would shatter. "No, no, no, no, no." He couldn't know who that is.

I grabbed him by the shirt and pointed at _it_ , "What is she doing here? Huh?" Tears started flowing down my cheeks. Betrayed. Betrayed. And all for some sick joke.

"Spinel, you gotta believe me. I have no idea who she is." He shuddered in fear. Reluctantly, I let go.

"No, I guess she never mentioned me at all, did she?"

He shrugged, "No one told me. They might've thought they were protecting me, or saving you. I just don't know."

It was only then that I realized something, "Guess you were kept in the dark too, huh?" Our eyes met then shifted just as quickly. "She was great Steven, she's gone though. Just as well… she was only here once."

I offered him a hand up, and refused to look at the statue again. He took the lead, and I was okay with it. He led me to a new part of the garden where bright azaleas bloomed.

The flowers bloomed in large stone boxes along the cobblestone pathway. A gentle wind blew through the air. It carried with it small butterflies, and one landed on my nose. There was a gentle gurgle from a fountain in the center of the courtyard. It was peaceful.

"Say Steven?"

"Yeah Spinel?"

"Can I tell ya something?"

"Sure."

"You can neveh go home?"

"I know."

"I-I'm I'm glad you're here."

For just a little bit, it felt like the good old days. The days that I will always treasure. I hate her for leaving, hate her for forgetting, hate her for leaving me here alone, but in the end I could never hate those sweet memories of Pink, and the games we used to play.

We spent the rest of that day playing games, I juggled for him and showed him how the whole garden could resonate with music.

Then he asked me to dance, and I ran away. I didn't think about stretching away. _You wanted him to catch ya, silly._ I could practically hear that sickly sweet giggling. That's not who I am, it's not.

"It's not!"

"What!" he called out.

The sun was setting, and he was gaining on me. I slowed, still trying to comprehend why. We fell into the wet grass and he landed on top of me.

In spite of myself, I laughed. "Guess I'm it now!"

Steven rolled over and laughed, in between breathing heavily, "All that running, should've known it was just another game. Guess what?"

"What?"

"You win." He added.

"Oh, and what do I get?"

"How about my eternal servitude?"

"Not interested in buyin' what I already have, try again."

"How about a story?"

"Now yer talkin'!"

**-Steven-**

I adjusted my spyglass to focus on the little pink fox. "Ah yes, I can see her, absolutely stunning!"

I offered the spyglass to Pearl, my companion on this hunt. "Ah yes, I see her too. A word of caution milord, that fox has outsmarted every trapper from here to the old homestead."

"I know, but that's the beauty of it! What a prize. What a prize!"

**Next Time- The Hunt I**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay that font is much better, apologies for the lack of bold and Italics in previous chapters, this is my first time of Ao3.


	6. The Hunt I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven has heard tales of a mgical vixe his whole life, and begins his pursuit of her. He may have bit off more than he can chew.

**The Third Night- The Hunt I**

_My name is Steven Universe, and in my continuing effort to make up for my mom's mistakes I am a prince in a vaguely western European town. All of this is to entertain the gem who holds the power to destroy everything that I love. I no longer consider her insane, just deeply hurt. She waited an eternity for a friend that never returned to her. Maybe, just maybe, I can convince her to come to Earth with me. Hope springs eternal._

It was early morning in the town of Riverside and spring was in the air. The plant life that had weathered the long winter was now in full bloom. Out in the fields of my fief, the serfs were hard at work tilling the fields for planting. It was not a large estate, and all told only a few dozen families live on my lands. Even so the great patchwork of the individual farms stretched on for hundreds of acres.

My loyal servants and I had set out that morning in search of the mythical fox that I had been told stories of since a small boy. Pearl who had been my nurse as a child had told me most of them. The story she told me went something like this.

"Once upon a time, when your great-grandfather was a young man of seventeen. This was long before they cleared out the magic wood and banished the fairy folk to lands far away. Your Great-grandfather, the first prince of Riverside, came to these lands to seek his fortune. He spent his whole life in the presence of Diamond Empresses and was quite unprepared for life on the frontier." She would say.

I was a young boy and playing with a wooden train at the time. I jokingly replied with the old phrase, "Long may they reign!" As a boy I heard all the adults say it at official occasions.

"Yes, most certainly," she said, making the symbol of the diamond salute. I stood, in the way a four-year-old might call "dignified" and failed to make the same salute before falling over. She cleared her throat before continuing, "Oh… Where was I? Ah right!

"Your great-grandfather Steven was the first of his kind and quite unprepared for life outside of the imperial capital. He came here in a covered wagon with a dozen men and Garnet, Amethyst, and…"

"Pearl!" I interrupted; this made her smile. She tickled my belly and I screeched and rolled on the floor.

"Right as always milord. We all came out here to the wilderness and sought to carve out a home for ourselves. He took great pride in his garden, and one day, while tending to t some hard-earned blisters, he saw something."

She walked over to my bed and pulled down my favorite sleeping companion, "A pretty young vixen with two tails!" Pearl teased me by holding it over my head and making me reach for it. "He became so enamored with the creature that he would chase after her for hours on end, only to be eluded." She relented and gave me the stuffed toy. Even to this day I keep it underneath my pillow, the story meant that much to me.

"Through that whole year," she said, "He enjoyed the company of his friend, though she eluded him. For a man of peer with the aristocracy his servants and serfs just wouldn't do. That was why he was so grateful for this marvelous creature that appeared to him one fine spring day. At length he abandoned the chase, and just found contentment in observing her from his garden. It made him laugh as she chased butterflies across his newly cleared fields."

"A whole year passed, and the first fruits of the harvest came in. Your ancestor was glad for the harvest, but his heart wasn't in it. Even as the townsfolk danced for the harvest festival. Oh, Steven you should have seen how happy everyone was. There were fifes, harps, and I played my violin for the first time." She stopped and closed her eyes, reminiscing on happy times, and then continued. "It was there that a little dark-haired woman stole his heart." They danced, first around the maypole, and later as the night wore on, more intimately. I personally played their first gavotte." She hummed a few chords.

Not one to leave it at that, her gem glowed, and she pulled from it an elegant violin. This prompted me to clap in the off-time way that a toddler does in his eternal pretending to be an adult. So strange that after all these years my memory is so crisp. It's as though it all happened yesterday. She made the music sweetly sing in glorious vibrato. Pearl spent many frustrating nights teaching me to follow her, and it was well worth the effort.

She finished, "At twilight they bid each other a found farewell, and your grandfather was melancholy at the thought of saying goodbye. The little dark-haired woman was just as sorry to leave, she stole a kiss when she thought no one was looking. It was a scandal among all of his servants," she giggled mischievously, "but I digress."

Pearl ended her story, "After they parted, he saw his vixen one last time. She came up to him and licked his hand in the twilight, before running off, never to be seen again in his lifetime."

My grandfather saw the vixen, as did my father. Both saw the vixen, and both thought they would be the ones to capture her. Deep down though, I have always fancied that I would be the first one to hold her down. Maybe, just maybe, today is the day that the family phantom comes home.

**Next time: "The man at the Bridge," The Hunt II**


	7. The Hunt II

**The Third Night- The Hunt II**

**The Man at the Bridge/The Girl in the Tree**

**Author's note: There is nothing important about the man on the bridge.**

_My name is Steven and I am ready for the hunt._

We left early in the morning and searched the small woods where we had seen her the day before. Alas all we found was a bit of dark pink hair. Thank the stars that it had rained the evening before and there were signs of footprints leading into the town of Riverside. It was a pleasant day, and the sky had cleared to a picturesque sea of blue punctuated with large white clouds sailing the endless horizon.

The path into my town was nothing special, a dirt track worn by the continuous foot traffic and the occasional horse or mule traveling the long route which widened out to the world beyond. The only pieces of infrastructure to be found was a pair of small plank bridges that connected a small island in the center of the river that was the town's namesake which connected to the town proper.

Along the way we heard a rustling in a nearby stand of trees. My hopes rose thinking that maybe the fox wasn't near so far away. Pearl followed close behind, it wasn't long before we found the source of the noise, and heard her crying, "Help! Oh, please help!"

Her pig tails bobbed back and forth standing straight up. The reason for this was quite simple, she was upside down. She swung under her own weight, clearly caught in one of the more elaborate traps a hunter could make. I just stared for a moment at the foot of the towering oak, baffled by the nonsense of it all. Hero that I am; I was more curious as to why her pink dress continued to lay flat as she struggled. Pearl was equally surprised at what she saw, commenting, "What was the fool trying to trap, a bear?"

Locking eyes with me, she was suddenly calm and collected, "Hey, so ugh, mind helping a girl out here?"

Fortunately, she wasn't that high up, and the would-be trapper had left foot holds on the tree. I motioned ready to draw my dagger when Pearl stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder, "Milord, the young lady is nearly nine feet off the ground, and I'm not about to let you risk your life. Not even for the sake of chivalry."

The woman was not amused by this at all, "So what, you're just gonna leave me here? Clods!"

"Not at all miss," I said, catching Pearl's meaning. Instead I handed my knife to my servant. "Would you be so kind?"

She nodded and began the ascent. "I'll catch you." I said. It seemed to always work in the bardic tales. Of course, the bardic tales were full of men who could rip a man in two, bare-handed. As I heard the rope breaking, I considered letting her fall to the ground. The rope snapped before I could act on that. Rather than catching her perfectly she fell into me.

I felt my face go red hot as she lay there on top of me. Already this adventure had resulted in the most undignified incident in my short life. The girl just giggled, "Thanks for breaking my fall."

"S-s-s-ure thing," I stuttered.

Pearl, who had jumped from the tree, pulled the young woman to her feet by the back of her dress. The woman was irritated, "Hey what's the big idea?"

"The big idea," she said scornfully, "Is that permitting milord to be in such a precarious situation would've been unbearable. With a commoner no less!"

I stood up and attempted in vain to get the dust off my clothing. "Pearl, given the circumstances, I think we can just let this go."

The young lady was quite pretty, and if I didn't know any better, about my age. It was clear by the way that she treated us that she wasn't from anywhere around here. Even the style of her dress was nothing like I had ever seen. She was crass and vulgar, but something about her struck me as unusual. I just couldn't quite grasp it.

I bowed politely, "I'm Steven by the way, and yours is?"

She curtsied, "Spinel, a pleasure to meet ya."

"You," Pearl corrected.

Spinel just stuck out her tongue in disdain. "So what're _you_ and the old lady doin' this far from yer manor anyway?"

Something about her way of talking just made me smile, "We're hunting, for a pink fox."

"Well you're on the right track, I was just walking along. Minding my own business when it came running through here with a piece of meat in its mouth. I take two steps the wrong way, and I sprung the trap that it had apparently avoided."

"That's great."

"Hey, you jerk! I've been hanging there for hours." She shook her fist at me, then broke into a fit of giggles. "Of course, I guess it's not every day you meet a handsome prince?" She winked and wrapped her hands around my arms. There was that same nervous feeling as before, _what kind of woman is this_?

After a few minutes of walking they were back on their way to the bridge. It was clear that Pearl had her reservations about the way Spinel clung to me. "Milord if you go into town like that everyone will talk."

Spinel quickly replied, "Your right," she put a hand on her cheek, "I'll just have to tell them how I, a poor defenseless girl was taking a morning stroll when I fell into a vicious trap." She mimed swooning and slid to the floor, "Who should come to my rescue but this strapping young gentleman and his hideous, elderly, old man servant." Returning to her feet and dropping the act she looked spitefully at Pearl, "that work for ya, Crow."

Pearl looked visibly hurt, "I'm not that old…"

When they made it to the bridge, an old man was fishing. That wasn't important. What was important was the large crowd of people that were milling about. It became obvious that some sort of parade was going on. It was a huge crowd passing through, soldiers in bright white dress uniforms, cavalry and even dancers. "Stars, what's going on?"

Pearl chimed in, "Looks like some sort of delegation. Must be from the Empire.

Spinel said, "Steven it's not just any delegation."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

It was then that Pearl noticed a banner among the troops, "Oh my, it's the Imperial Princess."

Spinel poked me in the ribs, "Hey dunce, did you see that? It's that miserable rodent!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me into town. Sure enough, there she was meandering through the dozens of people gathered. What was that little fox up to?

**Next time: "The Imperial Princess, and the Fox" The Hunt III**


	8. The Hunt III

**The Third Night- The Hunt III**

**The Imperial Princess and the Fox**

**Author's note: Sometimes Spinel is Connie, Spinel is Spinel… Perks of the frame only having two characters… so far.**

_My name is Steven, and that vixen will be the death of me._

The men of the princess' guard were in their most immaculate coats and marched with muskets to shoulders, and sang in hearty, bold fashion of distant conquests. Drums beat to the march, while fifers plied their trade in excellent harmony. As a country prince of modest means, it was perhaps the most beautiful sight of organization I had ever had the opportunity to observe.

Soldiers marched step to step down the rough road that led from my little frontier town, and towards the highway of the great king, and the long journey to the capital. Behind their endless ranks were the soldiers in the bright red of the old imperial guard. Next was an ornate chariot pulled by four, magnificent, white horses, and a detachment of lancers with gleaming breastplates. It was a fantastic display of imperial might.

Unfortunately, Spinel, Pearl, and I could only watch in sheer horror as that cunning little vixen ran to-and-fro, throwing the whole mass into a confusing, writhing, mess. The men slipped and fell as the little creature barked and pulled shoelaces, the fifers lost time, the drums stopped beating. The even columns of men collapsed into rubble. The tricky little woman bit the heels of the horses on the carriage just before nibbling the harness and sending the panicked horses in every direction of the compass.

The lancers, valiant though they were, fared no better as they attempted to regain control of their steeds. Several were tossed and landed in the mud as their horses made their escape. It was a grand catastrophe. Pearl saw to it that the citizenry returned to their homes while the poor officers took stock of the situation.

Her Grace immerged from her coach, which had been knocked over in the chaos. It was interesting to say the least, to see the woman, clad in immaculate white, land in the mud. She was helped to the ground by her Pearl maidservant. The princess pointed and bid me come closer, so I complied. Of course, Spinel, true to her fashion, ran ahead, splashing mud the whole way. Pearl stayed close to his side.

Spinel changed completely when she got close to her grace. She straightened out, and even offered a proper curtsy, low to the ground. This act was proper but caked the bottom of her dress in mud. "Your Grace, apologies for this most unfortunate accident, I regret to say that there is no inn in this town. Milord would be honored to have a guest such as you for the evening while you wait for repairs."

I stepped forward awkwardly. Trying to ignore the sinking suspicion that somehow, I had something to do with all this nonsense, I simply nodded. She was beautiful, in the harsh imperial way. Her body hidden beneath several layers and a hoop skirt. It had to be miserable on a day like today. Even her face was covered in makeup. She was, every inch, the idealized doll. In that sense she came off as both imposing, and altogether fragile.

She was smoothed and dignified amidst the chaos that surrounded her. Nodding, she said, "I graciously accept."

"Princess Connie?" An elderly officer exclaimed.

"I will do as I please," was all she said in answer.

Not one to sit idly by, she personally directed the better part of the cleanup. To everyone's immense relief, no one was fatally wounded in the stampede. There were plenty of cuts, bumps, bruises, pulled muscles, and a couple of broken ribs among the pride of the imperial cavalry. When she was told of this the princess laughed as she reclined on a bench, "You ought to petition your monarch for the Cross of Valor, that one fox of yours inflicted over seventy casualties."

Pearl, who was stitching up a small cut on a soldier's face nearby said, "Milady, Prince Steven wouldn't dare tarnish the good name of your bodyguard."

"I'd say they did a better job of tarnishing their own." She giggled. How old was she? Her dress was so elaborate I would've guessed her to be in her forties, but that laugh…

An officer approached her kneeling, "Milady we have set camp as you asked."

"Excellent captain, the sun will set soon, see to it that your soldiers get rest. We still have a long way to the Capital."

"Of course, your grace." He stayed kneeling.

"See to it that Steven gets due compensation for the all the trouble that we caused." In short time he produced a notebook. "No, see to it he is compensated three-fold for the worth of his estate."

I thought I would faint, "Wh-wh-what?"

"There are benefits to having the vast wealth of the empire. Now I think I should like to retire for the evening, do you live nearby?" I nodded and the four of us: Spinel, Pearl, the princess, and I made our way to my estate. All of this was against the backdrop of a beautiful and vivid and bright red sunset.

"You know I came here in an effort to keep the peace."

Spinel found reason for spite, "Oh, so that's why you brought the army."

For Pearl that was unacceptable, she attempted to reign in what she viewed as a commoner. Much to everyone's surprise the princess quickly returned, "My father insisted on it, he's never been much for humility. I truly am here to keep the peace though.

"I'd just like to catch that damned fox," was my reply.

Her Grace beamed, "Given what she did to my army, it would truly be a feat worthy of the annals."

My pig tailed friend giggled in obvious crude humor. Pearl visibly rolled her eyes.

It was a little underwhelming that my hunt had ended so climactically, ended with my goal unfulfilled. "Maybe my hunt, will have to wait for another day. Spinel, who had been keeping her distance, came up behind me.

She was giggling, "Oh I don't know, take a look!" The lady pointed ahead, and sure enough, there she was. It was coincidence wasn't it. I thought back to pearls stories, but it was all so annoying.

"What is wrong with her?" I exclaimed in frustration.

Pearl was uncharacteristically nostalgic, "Maybe she just likes you."

"I wished she liked me less."

Now the princess added, "And she was the one that single handedly destroyed my guard? Maybe I should make her his Field Marshal? I'd love to see Father conduct a war while his lead general digs her den in mothers prized roses."

I laughed, not so much at what she said, but at the fact that something so human could come from this living porcelain doll. "I'm afraid I can't offer much in the way of luxury. I don't have the money to maintain a large staff, Pearl is my only servant."

"Of course, that is why I insisted upon it." She shocked everyone present by removing her towering wig and tossing it away, revealing a tightly wound bun of dark, black hair. "I despise the overly luxurious style that my advisors insist on. For a man, even what your wearing now is sufficient." She pulled a pin sending her hair down in waves that settled at her shoulders. Next, she pulled out a cloth from _somewhere_. Using said cloth she broke through the glass of her skin. The result was positively stunning. Her face was nearly as dark as her hair, and I just stood, clumsily with my mouth open.

"I don't suppose I could trouble you for a bath and attire appropriate to rest in?"

"Hmn?" I was totally lost. The porcelain doll had become a beautiful young woman.

Spinel interrupted, "Relax, you can borrow one of my dresses." She pushed up my mouth, "Yer drooling weirdo."

"Y-yes, of course," I stammered out.

"Something bothering you Steven?" The princess asked.

"I was surprised that under all of that there was beautiful princess. How old are you?" Oh stars, what was I saying.

Clearly flattered she added, "Eighteen, most say I act beyond my years. I just wish father wouldn't insist I look it."

It stabbed like one of cupid's arrows in the legends. What was I even thinking? She just made me three times wealthier on a whim. Suddenly I forgot, if only for a moment about that little vixen. Not that I felt any better. Now I felt like she had revealed herself to be a goddess. It was like suddenly seeing Athena where just moments ago a mere mortal stood.

Once we had arrived back at my manor Pearl warmed the bath for both of us. Spinel quickly washed her dress and traded it for one of my night shirts. "The least I can do milord." Now she took on that more regal manor of speaking again. "It's been a heck of a trip," she kissed me on the cheek. Just before she closed the door she said, "Ya know, she may not look it, but she's a kind little fox."

"Oh," I said. It was rather confusing, but the princess called me from the other room, and I decided to drop it for the moment.

Spinel's dress fit her well. It was amazing that such a petite figure was hiding underneath what was certain to be fifty pounds of clothing. "I love this, you know, my hoop skirt is made of oak, fancy some kindling for your fireplace?"

As tempting as that offer was, Pearl had already built a roaring fire, and even fed the small furnaces in the bedrooms. That coupled with the cool evening gave the home a warmth that it seemed all to often to lack. Rather than sitting back on the couch in the immaculate parlor, I laid out two large cushions to be nearer to the fire. The princess saw this and immediately sat down beside me.

My heart skipped a beat "You look beautiful." At nineteen this was the closest I had ever been to a girl in private. Pearl who was a servant to the end, conveniently dismissed herself to work the loom in a separate part of the house. Even the princess seemed nervous.

"Can I get you something to eat or drink." I suggested hoping to break the tension.

"I was hoping to just speak with you, if that's okay."

"Certainly, what about?"

She smiled, now seemed a little nervous. "This situation, it's just so romantic." Her face flushed. For the first time in the evening she seemed entirely human. "I'm sorry, I know it's so sudden." She embraced me in a crushing hug. I returned her embrace and quickly realized that she was weeping. "It's not fair that they subject me to all this." The princess poured out all her worries. It came streaming down her face before harmlessly hitting the floor.

It was only then that I realized how lonely and terrifying life was for her. She didn't want for food, or shelter, just companionship. She told me of how much she had longed to see some knight in shining armor outside her open window to carry her off to the wider world.

Finally, with nothing left to cry over she said, "Imagine my surprise when the handsome prince turned out to be a country prince, and that one of his servants had to bid me to come." She wiped tears from her eyes. I was, not for the first time, utterly speechless.

"Of course, if this were one of the romances I read as a girl, this would be the "happily ever after."

"Life's never that simple is it," I offered.

"If all the power I had could make it so I would. I barely know you, and yet I much prefer…"

Somewhere, deep within me I found confidence, and pressed my lips to hers.

-Back in the Garden-

Now the dream ended, and Spinel shook me awake "You call that a kiss?"

**Next time: The Fourth Day- Intruder in the Garden**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Note- Wow did that chapter got a lot longer than I expected. With that the story has crossed the 10,000 word mark! To those who have made the long journey from the first day, thanks so much!


	9. An Intruder in the Garden

**The Fourth Day- An Intruder in the Garden**

_My name is Steven Universe and after three days with a crazy gem, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm the insane one. I woke up to see her laying next to me in the shade. Despite her constant threats to destroy everyone that I love over the last three days, she looked so peaceful. There was something changing about her._

Her skin was brighter now, and the "eyelash" marks under her eyes weren't so deep either. Simply put, she wasn't so intimidating as she was when I arrived.

Even last night she… last night. I smile when I think of that exchange, "You call that a kiss!" I was too tired to argue much. Was I remembering things right? "I'll show you Steven Universe!" I dozed off soon after. It drains me so much when I tell those stories, and I can barely even think.

Well, this morning it was her turn. I creeped up on her slowly, got to within an inch of her face. Carefully, I put my hand on her cheek and slapped it lightly to wake her up. Her eyes opened slowly and focused on mine. My cheeks became flush, and I went to pull away. I only wanted to make her feel uncomfortable, to tease her. In the end, she got the last laugh, and wasn't that all she wanted? It was weird to think that her revenge was really only the bawling of someone who felt utterly lost.

Instead of pulling away her arms wrapped around and pulled me close. The voice that came from her in that instant was weaker and far more intimate than I was used to. "I said I would show you, Universe." Then she drew me into a kiss that seemed to go on forever. It left me shell shocked and at a loss for words. We just stayed there for a while in each other's embrace. When at last we parted she smiled, "See?"

I shuffled back from her and said in nervous defeat, "Spinel, th-that wasn't my intention!"

"Oh don't sell yerself short, I didn't see you complainin'," at that she stood, "Besides yer tellin' me you don't find me charming? You know you didn't find that sweet princess more attractive than cute and sly wittle Spinel."

"What are you saying? You knew I would give you the opportunity?"

She stuck out her tongue, "Of course you dunce, I was awake the whole time! You fell for it hook, line, and sinkeh!"

At first I was embarrassed, but then it hit me, "Why were you so sly?"

"Because I can do whateveh I want here, or did you forget that you are the intruder in my garden?" She ran off, and I followed in close pursuit.

"Come back Spinel, I want to talk."

The mischievous pink gem rose on her feet until they became like stilts. Then turned to stick out her tongue, "Nah, I'm done talking Stevie, but if you catch me we can do whatever you want." She stretched over a large hedged maze.

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted as I leaped into the air. We both floated safely to the ground in a, frankly less than dignified position.

"Your just no fun at all anymore," she said, then after a pause, "I'm a little disappointed that you haven't made a run for it just yet."

"Wouldn't dream of it, unless…"

"Unless what?"

"You, know you could come home with me right?"

"I thought we were clear that that'd mean the end of your precious little mudball?"

"No Spinel, I mean that we could…" I heard an unfamiliar rustling in the hedge. "Did you here that?"

She had already taken out her weapon. The rustling on the other side of the hedge only grew louder when suddenly Lion burst out from the other side and tackled me to the ground, he started licking my face. It was great being able to meet a friend in a place like this, "L-l-lion how did you find me hahha!"

Spinel breathed a sigh of relief as she put away her weapon, "All this for another one of Pink's lost pets."

Later she told me stories about how mom was always finding animals in distress on distant worlds and "saving them". Apparently, Lion wasn't the first, and there were many animals that had received that blessing. I'm not really sure how to feel about having dozens of Mom's pets on the prowl for me. One pet was especially disturbing. Spinel described it as, "Like a big tower, but you know alive… and much bigger than a moon.

I asked her if she was joking as I enjoyed an evening meal of more fruit. Seriously I've got to get out of here so I can have a burger. Sure, I miss my friends and loved ones, but at a distant second I really want to bite into some nice greasy carnival food again sometime, but I digress. She giggled before taking on a more serious tone, "You wish."

"Funny, Spinel."

"Guess you'll just have to see for yourself someday." She said petting Lion's mane. "By the way, I'll think about what you asked earlier." Just three days ago she nearly killed me and now I'm considering taking her home to meet everyone. Again, I wonder who the insane one is in this relationship.

We spent the rest of the day playing games with Lion in the garden, before settling in again for the last part of the story. Just before we did Spinel said, "Can I make a request about the stories ending."

"Sure."

She whispered what it was that she wanted into my ear. I replied, "That's a wonderful idea!"

**Next time: The Fourth Night- The Hunt IV**

**End Note- Next chapter will conclude "The Hunt story". Thanks so much for reading!**


	10. The Hunt IV

**The Fourth Night- Concluding the Hunt or "The Vixen's Captivity"**

_My name is Spinel, and I should be happy for the little princeling, shouldn't I? Like his father, and his grandfather, I went to such lengths to play cupid that I doubt you would believe me if I told you. Of course, I will say that my role as a shapeshifter and illusionist can make yours truly a bureaucrat just as easily as a fox. I am happy for him, aren't I?_

The answer that suddenly gripped me as I saw him place his hand on that witch's cheek and press his lips to hers. What was she thinking, he was mine! At once I crashed through the glass window and got between them. I growled fiercely at her as all the noble posturing disappeared. The look of delicious fear on her face was spectacular.

"Oh my…" That was all _her grace_ could manage as Pearl burst through the door with a cutlass and flintlock pistol.

She lowered her pistol and fired at once. There was a brief spark as the powder ignited and was followed with a loud bang. My form broke and I returned to my human form. The next few seconds went by for me in slow motion as thoughts crawled through my mind, but refused to leave my mouth:

"Oh right, the girl has my dress."

"This shirt is quite drafty."

"It's all wet."

"I'm all wet."

"I've been shot."

Darkness crept over me as I looked into the kind face whose eyes were crying. The last thing I said, the only thing I said as I lay there dying was, "Hehe, guess in the end you did hunt me down." I felt heavy, and wet, and cold. Finally, I felt nothing at all.

I expected to fade away or go to one of those nutty afterlife's humans are always going on and on about. Once, centuries ago, I listened in the form of an old woman to a firebrand preacher who worked himself into a tizzy, yelling about "The sounds of an angelic choir chanting praises to the lost." Of course, he had promised that the "Sweet tomorrow of hope," would have no pain. The first thing I noticed was the immense pain tearing through my shoulder.

This served as a painful reminder that I might still be living. There was little consolation to be had as I attempted to relate my situation to those same eyes I had seen just before I closed mine. I still wasn't sure what came over me. I wanted him to know that I was sorry. I wanted him to know that this wasn't his fault. Instead, through teary inflamed eyes I managed, "Gah… mnnm."

His words barely registered, "Spinel… worried… drink."

A cold liquid ran down the blazing furnace of my throat. Soon after, I dozed off. Naturally my wound had resulted in an expected fever, but to me it was all a fuzzy mess with only the vaguest connection to reality. That fuzz sounded like Steven, Pearl, and even the princess in the beginning. As time wore on it seemed to only be him.

I'd had close calls in my life before, given my age it's inevitable. However, this feeling of helplessness, of weakness, was something new and unwanted. Dreams and reality were a muddled mess, and at times I relived that moment where I was shot. Usually I was the princess, but at least once it was me pulling the trigger. That fever was so rough that death might've come with some relief.

I didn't die though, and after this period of pain and disconnection, a wave of new and uncertain pain came over me. Suddenly I was aware that it was nighttime, and that I was sweating profusely. Shivering I called out, "Help!" I felt the distressful feeling of wanting, needing, to cry but being utterly dried out. The prince had been sleeping by the bedside and ran to me with a pitcher full of water. He removed the blanket around my body before covering it with another that lay warming by the furnace.

He gave me a cup of water saying, "Sip this."

I did as he commanded before slipping of into another night of hellish dreams, and nightmares. This time I watched him burry me alive. The shovel scraped the earth and pushed it in on me. I attempted to cry out, but my mouth was full of dirt. I tried to cough .

This all went on for some time. Then one fine morning my pain was only unbearable, and at last I came back into my right mind. A sweet sound rang through my ears. It sailed in with an unseasonably cold breeze. I rustled in bed, still weak, "Sss-teevan," it hurt to even say that. Suddenly the music ceased, and I looked into the face of a bearded, tired looking man.

His hair was a deep black, and bags had accumulated under his eyes. The eyes and smile hid nothing though, and he embraced me. A sharp pain raced through my shoulder and I clenched my teeth. Quickly he let go, "I'm so sorry."

"Tell your pearl," I coughed, "to work on her aim."

He smiled and sat by my side, "I'll be sure to tell her," he fed me some cold grain cereal. It was thin and gross, but I swallowed it. The sound of his spoon dragging against the bowl was disturbingly familiar "I hope I didn't wake you with my playing the violin. I've never been all that good."

"P-please, play more."

This time he struck up a joyful gavotte, might've known his pearl would teach him that one. I listened for a little while before falling asleep again. I thought of someone quite like him, all those years ago…

It was a little disappointing that he wasn't there when I woke up. The knock at the door raised my hope, when Pearl came in with a tub of water and a towel my hopes sank through the floor. "Good morning Spinel, I hope you are feeling well." She tried to manage a smile, but it was no good.

"I'm fine. Fine for someone who has been in and out of consciousness because a miserable clod shot me in the arm," I meant to sound angry but only wheezed it out feebly.

"You're expecting sympathy?" She asked, removing the blanket from my bed.

"What do you think you're," she didn't let me finish.

"Relax, I need to look at your wound and replace the bandages." It was with great reluctance that I let her remove and replace them. Once the deed was done, she left the tub of water by the bed and walked to the door. Just before leaving she added, "You know, I suspected you weren't actually a fox. I'm not about to apologize for keeping milord from harm, but I fear I was too greedy when I set that trap in the woods." Pearl closed the door before I could comment.

There was also a package that contained my dress, along with a letter that read:

_Dearest Spinel,_

_I cannot say that I truly understand what possessed you to so violently get between Steven and I yesterday evening but know that I hold both of you in the highest esteem. Ironic as it may seem, you two are the only genuine friends I have made my whole life. I've already arranged for an extended stay once I have finished my business at the capital._

_Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't tell admit to your having played me and the empire for total fools. That is something that cannot and will not stand. Maybe its my love of romance, but defeating you seems like a worthy goal._

_Sincerely,_

_Connie_

_P.S. If you're the evil enchantress, I guess that makes me his knight in shining armor._

Had she seen something that I hadn't? More importantly who was the crazy one here? I started to laugh as, with no small amount of discomfort I slipped on the dress. Maybe there were worse roles to play. Just then Steven knocked, "Spinel? May I come in."

"Yes," I said, tossing the letter into the unlit furnace.

He sat down and seemed a little nervous. It seemed like there was something he wanted to say but couldn't.

"Pearl finally dragged you away for a bath, huh?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, you had me really worried the last few days. I couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible."

I smiled. "Ya expect me to believe that's why you were here the whole time?"

"Okay, so maybe that wasn't the only reason."

"Well doofus, you have a captive audience."

"You were the vixen the whole time?"

My magical abilities were still recovering, but I could manage a small trick. An illusory pink fox tapped at the window before fading into mist. "Sometimes it was me, sometimes it was a trick." I had to stop to clear my throat. "But… yes."

The smile he gave me was infectious. Steven inundated me with question after question, and it was satisfying to at last come clean about my playing cupid all those years. It went on for most of the morning, and well into the afternoon. Occasionally that nervousness he exhibited when he entered returned to break up the conversation.

"What do you really wanna know?" I said, my voice cracking with annoyance.

"Why did you do it? Why put us together only to try and tear us apart? You even told me you were a friendly fox." He looked like a weight had fallen off his shoulders.

I tried to giggle, but it sounded more like a growl. "Would you believe I picked then to have a bout of jealousy?"

That smile returned as he moved to sit beside me. "I think I might just."

"How can you be so happy with the outcome of all of this?" Playfully, I poked his nose with my good arm.

The boy stretched out, letting out a yawn, "Well I think it's safe to say that life will never be so quiet again. This little hunting trip really brought all the chaos of the outside world here, literally. Connie has bought a hundred acres for her heh, summer cottage."

"Not exactly subtle, is she?"

"Says the woman who turned into a fox to play the over enthusiastic lap dog." To add insult to injury he patted my head. "You'll play nice next time, right?"

I stuck out my tongue, "Not a chance."

He stood up, "Well, I suppose I should get you something in the way of lunch. Pearl say's you should take it easy for a couple more days." The boy winked, saying, "So you've got until tomorrow before she brings down the proverbial, if not the literal axe."

"What did you think of the hunt?"

"It's wonderful, but who said it would ever end."

-Back in the Garden-

Spinel wasn't amused, "When I asked yah to let me be center stage instead of that ugly clod, I didn't think you'd bound me to a bed the whole time!"

"What did you have in mind?" I asked with a yawn.

"Okay, okay, so hear me out, Connie turns out to be an infamous fox hunter, and wants nothing more than to take our darling protagonist and mount here head on a wall." With a twirl she pulled out her scythe, "So that's when she draws a sword and announces that it'll be a duel to the death!" She started to giggle.

Spinel settled down next to me, "Okay, how about next time I put you in the driver's seat?"

Just before I fell asleep, she tugged at my sleeve, "Wait. Was that a hint? Steven? Steven!"

[The End of the Hunt]


	11. The Fifth Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is there really no way out?

**The Fifth Day- No Leaving the Garden**

_My name is Spinel, and I think… maybe I should make a change. Just days ago, I was so certain that destroying everything that reminded me of her was worthwhile. Why did he have to come and ruin everything! Can't he see that I'm no good?_

I look in my reflection every morning in one of the fountains. At times its like I see the Spinel that waited loyally for Pink, but that quickly fades into that beast that just wanted to cause pain. Then, she too fades into who I am now. I walk through the statues of those that mean so much to steven. Imagine my shock when I crossed a stone bridge and found that a bronze statue of myself had manifested and was performing a balancing act on the handrail.

Only four other statues relate to me, Pink Diamond introducing herself while pearl stands at her side, Steven cradling me which now stood in the exact place where I destroyed that fountain, and _her_. They form a closed area over that bridge I mentioned. Casually, I sat on a bench in front of the last statue. I close my eyes for a moment and remember that familiar voice that meant so much to me.

"Spinel, you'll never believe what I heard!"

"Did you learn a new game?"

She giggled, "Yes! How would you like to try it?"

"Yippee!"

I smile at the thought of it, and how great it was to trust someone so completely. Just as quickly my smile turns to a frown as other memories flood back, before it ends tears start falling.

"Little Spinel, meetings in the palace are so dull, you'll only be bored. Just stay here, and I promise I'll be back as soon as I can." She smiles at me and I can't help but laugh.

Then there were two other voices, the voice of that statue, and Pearl. "Pearl don't be such a spoil-sport, we wanna play." She pouted.

"My Diamond, this is wrong, so very wrong. What if-if the other Diamond's find out?" Stupid clod! Always ruining our fun. After that the voice was gone forever… and now.

I wipe the tears from my eyes and knocked the head off Pearl's statue for good measure. Then I went back to the pool and stare at my reflection. "No, you're not me, not anymore." It wasn't hard to take the next step. I had done it before. Steven still wouldn't be up for hours, and I needed a new style.

Did I do it for him? As if! I did it for me. Of course, if he thought it made me look more attractive, what the hay, right?

My gem glowed, poofed, and I reformed. I breathed a sigh of relief when I looked at the reflection, finding that I could, at last, only see myself. Of course, now I had to surprise the boy who was still asleep. That little trick he tried yesterday, deserved another on my part. That Lion had disappeared, but that didn't even seem to distract the dork who was laying on his back and snoring loudly.

This time I wasn't going to even risk the chance that he might get the upper hand. I twisted myself around a nearby tree, and slingshot him into the air. At first his arms waved and flailed in hilarious confusion. Which left me laughing loudly while rolling on the floor. "Hahah oh-ho-ho, oh Universe you should've seen the look on your face."

"What was your plan if I didn't float like Mom?" He said that, still in shock over my wake-up call, while he floated to the ground.

Gradually, my laughter died, and I said, "Pink could float?" Steven's laugh wasn't fooling anyone.

After yawning and wiping that gross gunk from his eyes, my little makeover finally dawned on him.

"Hey, my eyes are up here Universe!" I said with a wink, "So whadaya think?" I turned around to model for him, even running my hands through my hair.

 _If he says something bad about my new look, I wonder how far I can bounce him into the air_?

"I like it."

I crossed my arms finding his response a little underwhelming. "That's all you've got to say about it! No, 'Spinel, I just love how you incorporated the darker color into your feet.'" I said, mocking the clod. Then I started to pace around in frustration, "Or, 'oh Spinel the way that the design of your right side up heart silhouettes your upside-down gem.'"

He started to stretch, "I'm sorry Spinel, I only just woke up."

I shrugged, "Hmph, you're an awful hostage." I said, sticking out my tongue.

"Isn't that kind of your fault? I guess it's getting kinda difficult to tell?"

The nerve of this kid, "Have you forgotten my injector?" I pointed up at the barely visible moon the injector was planted on.

"How could I?"

"Good," I grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him close, "There's no escaping the garden."

Suddenly there was a shout, "Let Steven go!"

It was that girl Connie and she was riding on the back of Pink's pet Lion. I barely dodged the sword she charged me with, dropping steven in the process. "What're you doing here," a glow came from my gem and I pulled out my rejuvenator. "This a private party, and no one invited ya!"

She leapt off the Lion to get between me and Steven. "Steven let's fuse; we can take her, together."

He shouted out, "Will both of you just calm down, and we can."

Connie lunged at me and locked blades with my scythe. In a sing-song I said, "You clod, you just had to come here and ruin my fun. Well-well-well-well-well, I'm not about let you run away with him, he's-". There was a sudden pain that interrupted me as the spear went straight through my side. I turned my head around, "Hah just swell." My rejuvenator sliced right through Pearl's form. Connie's sword sliced my torso in two.

Then I poofed.

**-That Evening, Steven's Perspective-**

Spinel reformed that evening on the beach. I wasn't about to leave her bubbled forever. Bismuth and Peridot had already destroyed the injector, and I wasn't about to trap her. She sat there next to me, and we watched the waves roll in and out against the blue of the sky.

"I neveh imagined that the Lion would lead 'em to us," she stood and kicked the sand. "So what now Universe?"

"Not leaving the garden is out."

"What was your first clue?" She returned.

"So… what if I keep telling you stories?"

She sat on the ground next to me. "Why would you? Steven this maybe news to you but," she then shouted, adding, "I lost!"

"I'm not sure you did, I mean, think about it. I'm still here, and you aren't alone. Bismuth has your rejuvenator, and your injector has been destroyed, but that's it. We're sitting here, at my home, on a beautiful evening. Doesn't sound like defeat to me."

I put my arm around her, and squeezed her tight, "Besides, we don't have to stop telling stories."

Rather than try to get out of it, she leaned into me, and smiled. "Hehe, it was fun, wasn't it? What's you're deal anyway Universe? I held ya hostage, I took away your freedom, and gave ya every reason to hate me. Why do ya keep doing this, huh, can't ya see I'm no good… no good at all?"

"Spinel, you were hurt, but you were abandoned. I don't pretend to understand why Mom did all the things she did," I paused, wondering if I could afford to be so honest with her, "but I'm glad that I can sit here with you, today. I'm glad I can show you that I'm not going to abandon you."

"Universe, you are insane!" She looked at me and smiled.

"I had a good mentor."

"Can we ever go back to the garden?"

"Of course, any time you like."

"Good, because you better keep telling me those stories." She dragged me by the hand, "Well, what are ya waiting for? Comm'on!"

As made our way to the warp pad I couldn't help but think I was forgetting something important about what happened today. Oh well I suppose it can wait, when compared to the very real danger that I had endured the past few days, what couldn't? At very least she won't be attempting to destroy my planet anytime soon.

**Next Time- The Fifth Night, Promises I**


	12. Promises I

**The Fifth Night- Promises I**  
_My name is Steven Universe, and it’s been a long, hard, road. Here at the docks I try desperately to warm myself, on this chilly winter morning. The fog casts an eerie and impenetrable glow over an empty, and abandoned dock. Empty except for me, the carriage, and the trash barrel where I try to warm my dry and cracked hands._  
The two horses were hitched up and ready, I had even turned on the kerosene lanterns. “I just know that girl is going to terrify me,” I said to the air.   
She’d been getting good at it too. When we had first met, years ago, this was a bustling fishing port. Watching it die as more and more men and women were called off to the war, was horrifying. These days the once bustling city was a memorial to the tragedy happening abroad.  
I expected Spinel to hit me from the rafters, but today she just sat on the driver’s side of the open carriage. A small red stream appeared to gush from her forehead. I climbed up on the seat next to her “lifeless” body. Not buying it in the least bit, I got close to her face, brought my mouth to her cheek and blew razzberries against it, smudging her pale white disguise.  
She shook her fist in mock anger, “It’s one thing to see right through my gag, but to waste the opportunity, that’s just wrong.” She pulled out a small dish and began applying it to her face to cover the smudge.   
Noticing something off I licked my lips, “Is that that powdered sugar? Have you been using powdered sugar the whole time?”  
“Don’t be ridiculous, I used to use make up, back when I could afford it.” She drew her finger across her forehead and erased the red mark. “Ya shoulda gone for my forehead,” she put it in her mouth, and removing it, “Strawberry jam.”  
We started out from the dock a few minutes later. The whole city was feeling the pinch of war rationing. Just like the dockyards, the city seemed deserted. If I had tried to make this route at the beginning of the war, when the city’s wide avenues had been lined with patriotic flags and military parades of new recruits flocked to this city, it would’ve been literal suicide. Now only an occasional delivery cart like ours, passed like a ghost in the early morning fog.  
Spinel was an excellent driver, even if she utterly despised horses. It was fine by me, I loved caring for them. They weren’t exactly healthy and were well past their prime, but they did the job well enough. Naturally she had taken to calling the two, Pearl and Connie.   
My partner was sometimes hard for me to understand. She seldom talked about her life before the war, and I was afraid to ask. Life had been bad for gems before the war, but now she was the only one that I even knew of left in a city that once had several thousand. We met by sheer accident during my first smuggling attempt. I say attempt because I failed miserably, and if it hadn’t been for her quick thinking, I’d be dead, pure and simple.   
We struck up a partnership and found that we worked well together. As time passed, I became more and more attached to the gem. Spinel and I were rarely straightforward about our feelings. Mostly she just got a kick out of teasing me.   
We made our way through the deserted remains of the once vibrant city. Half-way to the Baringa Estate, she poked me on the shoulder. “You eveh wonder what life woulda been like if you were in my shoes?”  
“Stars no! I’m still amazed you were able get on as well as you did.”  
We came to a check point, and a thin old man with a metal hand, held out his good one saying, “Papers.”  
I handed him the visa. It was great having a legitimate one for once. More than once, we came a hair’s breadth from being caught. He shook his head and let us through.   
“Going to see that crazy peacock, are you?” He said.  
“You bet, should be quite the time.” I replied.  
“Just be sure you don’t catch any of that radical’s ideas, eh?”  
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I smiled brightly as he checked the visa and sent us forwards.   
As though taking a dramatic cue, the Sun chose that moment to finally dispel the fog revealing the soot covered grey faces of the massive apartment blocks. Here and there, women and children who’d been lucky or well connected enough to avoid the industrial conscription which kept the increasingly battered ship of state afloat, began their daily routines.  
“I’m not going to miss days like this,” I said. Even the best connected were drawing the belt loop ever tighter. While I had never been a thin person, this was one diet I could live without. Two slices of stale bread and three cans of “Ration meat” was no way to live. The can might say “M-E-A-T” but judging from the fact that its contents ranged from white to a deep plum color left much to be desired.   
Spinel stretched a little in her seat and relieved me from that recurring nightmare, “What are we gonna do when we get out of here anyway? I find it hard to imagine you taking a job at some factory, and I’m not exactly in any position to be a mother, afteh all.”   
“Imagine my disappointment.”  
“Sure, sure, laugh now. But wait until your friends get a load of me.”  
“I know, I’ll have to beat them away with a stick.”  
It’s true that I could never imagine life being normal with that crazy gem, but I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing. We’d been together for so long that it sometimes felt like we were married.   
We made our way to the inner city. This was the place where the big-wigs and government officials lived and conducted affairs of state. The traditional cold sweat at the sight of all the armed men in party uniform served as reason enough to be nervous. Occasionally a column would march by, led by an officer with drawn sword. Spinel looked totally unmoved by the scene, but reached over and grabbed my hand, until the men passed, and we proceeded farther.   
Eventually we arrived at the residence of one Lars Barringa, Prince of Leeds, or Prince of Peacocks if you prefer. The vast walled estate was the sore thumb of the neighborhood. It dazzled the eye in a bright green, accented in purple. Some wondered why his head hadn’t rolled years ago, along with the rest of the other so-called radicals. However, his family was old and well established which gave him a lot of leeway.  
A servant ushered us in and bolted the door. There was something odd about her, the way she smiled, and the tight buns her hair was tied into. My suspicions were answered when she stopped at a wash basin and came away from it a pale white and pink. Spinel and I nearly fell over each other at that.  
She bowed, and bid us follow her deeper in, “A pleasure to meet you both, Lars was thrilled to find a company willing to transport contraband.”  
We went through room after room where packing crates, bags, and paintings lay strewn about. It was a mess. Spinel spoke up, “So, are you the only contraband we’ll be transporting?”  
The gem giggled, “Stars no, but you’ll see.”  
Next, we were brought into a small drawing room. The master of the house lived up to his reputation. He was tall, lean, and had a tuft of bright purple hair. He even had large stud earrings. Lars might’ve been more at home in the circus. He was staring out his window at the military parade out in the distance.   
He turned and greeted us warmly as his servant used a hook to close the curtains while staying out of sight. When he offered his hand to Spinel and she refused, he looked at her face close, “She’s a gem isn’t she?”  
“She can speak for herself, and she expects the rug to be pulled any moment now.” Her hand was in her pocket. We both carried pistols for self-defense, and that look on her face told me she was ready to use it.   
“No tricks, hand to my heart. I’ve been shielding several gems, but a couple of days ago I got a message from the house of Lords. Took them a long time but they finally found a loophole to allow them to kick me out. You my friends are looking at the new ambassador to the Duchy of the Far North”  
I scratched my head, “Where even is that?”  
“It is the one part of the world that’s colder and gloomier than this place in a snowstorm, but there is one positive. There I won’t have to hide my friends once I send for them.”  
Spinel didn’t let her guard down, “How many friends are we talkin’?”  
“Would you like to meet them?” Spinel just nodded, how long had it been since she had last seen another gem.   
We were used to transporting a gem here or there, but nothing could’ve prepared me for what I saw. A dozen gems sitting around, playing cards, reading, painting and generally enjoying themselves. “You were protecting all them?”  
The servant interrupted, “What did I tell you, master Lars has been keeping us safe her for all these years. When she grabbed his arm, another piece fell into place. “We became one big, happy, chaotic family.”   
Lars spoke up now, “So will you help us?”  
Spinel said, “Of course we’ll do it.”   
That was that, one by one the gems went “poof” and they were packed in a large trunk. I was a little amazed they all fit but they did. This would be the largest manifest of contraband we’d ever smuggled out of the country. Last of all the servant whispered to her master, “Until we meet again my love.” She kissed him on the cheek before landing gently on the floor.  
Suddenly there was a sharp crash downstairs, and the sound of stomping feet. “Come on there’s no time to lose, Lars said. We rushed over and down the back way. When Spinel and I first heard gunshots, we knew that things had gone south. By some miracle we got down to the stables. We heaved the trunk into the cart. Spinel was already at reins, “Comon Steven, time’s a waistin’!  
Lars grabbed my hand, “Steven, promise that you’ll see this through, I couldn’t live with myself if anything happens to them.”   
All I could do was nod before getting into the cart. We started back the way we came, fate had abandoned us, and our hope sank as we heard a horseman shout, “Traitors! Stop at once!” Then they started shooting.   
**Next Time- The Fifth Night, Promises II**  
**Author’s note: Thanks so much for reading!**


	13. Promises II

****  
**The Fifth Night- Promises II**

  
_My name is Steven Universe, and I’m engaged in yet another chase by people trying to kill me. Is it too late to go back to the peaceful village from “The Hunt”?_  
The imperial horsemen are the remnants of a bygone age. In happier times they had been the pride of a land that had long since passed away. While they may no longer have been the force that rocked the earth, their bullets were still very real and very dangerous as they whizzed by our increasingly out of control wagon. These feather capped antiquities had come to life in the bright sunlight of early afternoon, in away that I and my incognito partner could’ve done without.   
I fished the pistol from out of my pocket and pulled the hammer back to unlock the safety. War or no war, I never fired at anything more dangerous than an empty bottle, but with lives on the line, to say nothing of my own, I had to act. Act I did.  
There were three horseman riding in a close and well-practiced V while they levered their polished brass carbines. All three were riding pure bred stallions, groomed and well rested, and when taken in combination with their flamboyant uniforms, must’ve cost more money than I had ever seen in my poor life. Did I hate them? No, there was no time for hate.   
My pistol was traded for at a local pawn shop, in exchange for a bottle of moonshine. Its hammer pulled back and landed with a thud, there was a crack as the powder ignited. The bullet missed it’s intended target, but it did not miss his horse.  
The front horse tumbled over in agony, as her master was knocked out of the saddle and tumbled feet first, knocking the cap from his head, but otherwise leaving him unharmed. However, that was only for the moment until the poor horse served as a break for the other two men of the squad. All the training in the world was couldn’t save the cavalry.   
I breathed a momentary sigh of relief. Unfortunately, this day was far from over. The sound of gunfire had attracted the parading guardsman who had rallied to the check point we had crossed earlier that morning.   
Spinel wiped the “make-up” from her face revealing the pink that lay hidden beneath. She now wore a smile that seemed all at once to be mad, determined and full of hate. Both horses were whipped into a panicked dash by the unfamiliar sounds of gun shots behind. My heart was pounding in sheer terror at the bloodbath that I had worked so long to avoid these past years.   
The devils in the guard uniforms had lined up in even rows with mounted bayonets and every intention of butchering us where we stood. She made no effort to slow the horses as they made their way down the street. Her smile had not faded. If anything, it was wider now, wider than any human could manage.  
“Spinel! Spinel!” I shouted hoping she would return to some semblance of normalcy.   
She laughed, “Guess there’s no point of hiding anymore.” She yelled to the goons, “So long clods!”  
What I saw next was incredible. I knew she could stretch her body to ridiculous lengths. Her limbs coiled out and she spun in front of the cart like an insane child’s top. People were scattered in all directions, left, right, down on the ground, and some were sent flying up into the air. Even those few that managed to fire their guns watched as the bullets harmlessly popped off sending bullets whizzing this way, and that. The pop and bang reminded me of nothing so much as popcorn, how both I and the horses remained unharmed I’ll never know.  
She landed back into the cart before the horses even had time to respond to it. She stuck out her tongue, “I’ve wanted to do that for ages!” With the passing of the danger for the moment she managed to get both horses under reign. “Whaddya think of me now Stevie?”  
“I think. That I’m more afraid of you than of any Imperial Soldiers”  
Spinel giggled, “Took ya long enough to figur’ that out!”  
We made it past the check point, and I had begun to hold out hope that, maybe, just maybe, the worst of it was over. Then from a distance I heard the bugle call. And saw a sea of armed cavalry rushing towards the check point. Then, to put it mildly all hell broke loose.   
Over the clopping an gate of our two horses, and of the bugle, and of the great cacophony of the horses I could hear a low buzzing alarm that could only mean one thing. It was impossible, that’s what newspapers, and everyone said… and yet it was here. I shook my fist to the air at the absurdity of the situation. “Today, of all days?” I enquired.  
Overhead a thousand canvas, and wood monstrosities, inched their way across the sky of the doomed city. The sea of horseman thundered on undeterred as rubble fell around them. We raced past a building just as a bomb landed a fortunate hit Followed by an immense “Booom!” The thing listed to the side, before collapsing over a dozen cavalry who dashed with lances of all things.   
The horses, by a great miracle made it to the docks, but somehow the foolish cavalry hadn’t been dispersed. I never found out the point of it, not after years of enquiry. In the end, the only conclusion I had was that they saw no better way to die.  
She didn’t slow the horses, even at the dock. There was no time not with the planes overhead, and the cavalry behind. No, she saw the only way and she took it, took it right over the dock as we plunged into the icy ocean water. It was a promising day, with improbable middle, and disastrous end. Crazy as that all was the ordeal was far from over.   
-Back in the Garden-  
Spinel jumped up in glee, “Now that’s mor like it Universe! I showed those clods.”  
I laughed, before yawning, “Just you wait till the end.” I peered at my phone, “3:00 in the Morning. Guess it’ll wait till tomorrow.”  
“Don’t you wanna go back to Earth?” She said.  
“Tomorrow, so sleepy.” Just before I dozed off Spinel rested my head in her lap.  
Next Time- Sixth Day- Cherry 2.0 


	14. Sixth Day I

**The Sixth Day- Cherry 2.0**  
**Part I- The First Attempt**  
**Author’s Note: Apologies for the long hiatus.**

_The name is Cherry Topaz, thrilled to bits to meet ya! Of course, don’t wanna get ahead of my pretty little self, so let’s start at the beginning. Hehehe, not like your goin’ anywhere._

Spinel spent half the morning staring at the statue of an older, uglier incarnation of yours truly. What with her sappy face, and stupid grin that just screams “Come play with me.” Gag. Steven, my better half, was still groggy in the morning dew. 

  
She’d made up her mind that she trusted him. You’d think after five-thousand years she’d quit dragging her feet, but oh well. Anyway, so the little gem lady was like, “I was thinking, why don’t we go out together.”  
The dunce replied, “What do you mean?”  
Her eyes moved back to the statue, “Do ya think she still exists?”

  
Steven stretched out and made a series of weird and prolonged morning grunts, before finally getting to the point. He’d long taken notice of the gems that made up the fusion.

“What’s her name?”

  
“She was Cherry Topaz.” Was all she could say.

“Do you want to try?”

  
They spent the better part of the morning trying to bring me into the world again. Spinel just wasn’t able to focus. Steven suggested a waltz, but she kept stepping on his feet. Even the more modern stuff just felt silly and wrong to the two halves of this silly fusion. Not that it dismayed them, they erupted in laughter multiple times. Sometimes they fell face flat, other times they landed in absurd and suggestive poses that turned spinel an even darker shade of pink.

  
Hungry, thirsty, and utterly out of ideas, they headed back to Beach City for something to eat. Noodle arms wandered why they had to leave at all? When he mentioned terms like, bathroom, shower, and shave. She said, “Right. Why didn’t I think of that!”

  
Those terms were a bit of a stretch, but why did she have to give him “privacy”. Twenty minutes alone was twenty too many. She knew she should respect that, but she also knew that threatening to blow up his world was a bigger slight. As it happened, she may or may not have stretched an eye under the door to figure out what was going on. After that she ran and stuck her face in the couch cushions, confused and embarrassed. 

  
When he finally came out of the shower and dragged the ostrich’s head out of the sand, she immediately clung to him. “Your smell.” She sniffed him all over, becoming a tangled knot of cotton candy colored chord. 

  
“Haha, stop that Spinel, it tickles!” He said, tripping over her. It never occurred to her that human beings went to such lengths to not smell like old garbage. 

  
Human beings were such high maintenance. She added, “What eveh it was you did in there”, she started to stumble over the words, “Just-erh make sure you don’t stop doing it!” He struggled to free himself from her enthusiastic… embrace? Oh the emotions were certainly there but it was more like being hugged by dozens of balloon animal serpents that had been brought to life, absurd as it was terrifying.

  
The joke lost its luster as her limbs started to twist him annoyingly this way and that. “Spinel! Ugh Spinel this is getting a little uncomfortable.” It was no good, like a little kid with a new toy she was totally absorbed in its workings. “Will you please…” Suddenly he exclaimed, “Cut it out!” A bubble formed and expanded out from around him. 

  
“SNAP!” And the rubber band pulled herself together. She lent a hand to help him up. It was probably the least she could do. In the same instant, the joy seemed to drain from her face, and she looked suddenly down cast. 

  
The bubble popped and Steven caught his breath, “Wow you don’t have a slow setting do you!”

  
Spinel rubbed her arm, “Hah, I suppose I don’t.” She smiled sheepishly at him.

  
He straightened out his disheveled clothes, “Don’t worry about it. I know you were just being friendly. Just do me a favor when we go into town?”

  
“For you? Anything.” She said. 

  
There was something about her brutally honest nature that he found oddly charming. Maybe that was why he smiled at her. “Don’t do that for one, and for another. Look here.” He poked her gem. 

  
“What the,” she said. Then he dragged his finger to flick her nose in that old bit. “Why you,” she couldn’t help but giggle in response.

  
He smiled back, “A wandering eye is one thing, but seriously keep it out of the bathroom.” Steven winked, and if she’d had a heart it might’ve skipped a beat. Instead she hugged him so she wouldn’t have to look him in the face. 

  
“Five thousand years of waiting for someone who stood me up, and this is the most embarrassing thing I’ve done! What’s fair about that?” She said in something between a whine and a jest. That might’ve been how I was formed right there too. Both of their gems started to glow and everything, but no good.

  
His phone started to vibrate. “Hold that thought.” 

  
She stuffed her head back in the couch cushions in shame, muttering, “Clod. Clod. Clod. Clod…”

  
“Hello?” He listened intently for a few minutes then let the phone drop from his hand. Steven dragged Spinel from her hiding place, and both were out the door in a flash.  
On the other side of town Bismuth was lamenting her showroom which was currently shining with the white-hot brilliance of the Sun. She was just hoping that Steven or one of the other Crystal gems would be able to fix this. Pearl was really getting on her nerves.

  
I know what you’re probably thinking, “Why are you wasting my time with more of the interactions between these two dorks when your far more interesting than either of them, you gorgeous, beautiful and charismatic ray of starshine, you.” To which I say, “You have an excellent point, but hey all good things come to those who wait.” 


	15. Sixth Day II

**The Sixth Day- Cherry 2.0**   
**Part II- Back in Bismuth**   
**Author’s Note: Thanks so much for all the views, should be back to releasing one a week for the foreseeable future.**

  
My name is Steven Universe, and I guess I’m taking over for this part. I can’t believe I forgot about Pearl being hit by Spinel’s scythe. The rejuvenator left her a blank slate. It was a lucky thing that in the absence of anyone else being present, Bismuth arrived just in time. 

Little Homeworld was now nearly a city in its own right. As Bismuth and Peridot’s pet project it had served as a beacon for the sort of wierdos and outcasts that always seem to make life interesting. Arriving via the warp pad, Spinel and I were shocked at the insane variety that seemed to be bursting out in every hue and color of the rainbow. Not only were hundreds of gems busy erecting towers and excavating the soil, but even the odd human and alien could be seen walking around or visiting shops.

“Wow this place sure is big!” Spinel said after a low whistle.

  
I replied, “Yeah two years ago this was nothing but fields.” I’d hoped to be there for its construction, but the sudden revolt of a number of gem colonies delayed my return to my friends and family. It was a miserable war, and one that nearly consumed me emotionally, and literally, but that is a story for another time. In any event it explains why I was somewhat melancholy, even as Spinel complicated the matter with various detours.

  
Spinel was the happiest I’d ever seen her. Holding hands with her was like holding on to a leash made of rubber bands. I didn’t fault her for her enthusiasm. She’d been in a prison of Mom’s making, waiting for an old friend who’d never come. I couldn’t imagine her pain, but it brought a smile to my face to watch her juggle with one hand for the entertainment of a boy who’d been crying moments before.

  
It wasn’t quite like the farmer’s markets my father had taken me too back when we were on the road, but it’s the only image that even comes close to what we saw as we neared Bismuth’s shop. It was a farmer’s market married to something out of a fantasy novel, and oddly flavored. A band was playing in a squared off area with instruments I’d never seen before. Two Lapis Lazuli danced while forming images of story which was in turn told by another Lapis. Spinel stopped for a minute, only a precious minute to watch the dazzling, and almost hypnotic display. What the Lapis said went a little like this:

“The wars raged on as the Diamond’s subjugated world after world, until not a soul was left who dared to rise against them. It was then that one of their number betrayed them, and led a rebellion for the sake of not only herself, but for the sake of life in all its myriad beauty.”

  
This was illustrated by the Lapis manipulating water to form examples of all kinds. Spinel turned back to me and I could see that she was on the verge of tears. I don’t know why, maybe it was sadness over the fact that she wanted to have a part. Mom left a lot behind when I came into the world… Some, like those Lapis, portray her as a hero, others make her out as vile and needlessly cruel. To tell you the truth, I haven’t made up my mind yet, and I doubt I ever will. 

  
Now somewhat downcast, Spinel and I made up the lost time, and finally arrived at Bismuth’s shop. From the moment we entered there was something deeply unsettling about Pearl. She smiled at the two of us, but deep down it felt hollow, empty, meaningless. One look at the way Bismuth’s usual smiling air of over confidence had soured, told me that she felt the same way too.

  
We met in her living room, a large stone room, accented with a huge fireplace, and lined with racks upon racks of weapons. They were all of Bismuth’s own design, and stretched back to the gem rebellion. Swords, maces, mauls, picks, clubs, and knives, she considered them all works of art. Above the fireplace was her most prized possession, the battle flag of Rose Quartz. I gave it to her as a gift back when she opened the shop. She’d taken great pains to repair it and even among all the other objects in the room, the bright pink flag dominated everything.

Spinel on the other hand, was bitterly overjoyed at seeing a perceived enemy brainwashed. She laughed, “I like her better this way.” She cartoonishly knocked on her head. “Guess nobody’s home.” Then there was that almost Cheshire smile, it still sent chills up my spine. 

I was shocked at how quickly her whole demeanor changed, “Do you know anything we can do to help her get her memories back?”

“Sure.” She replied.

  
Bismuth put her both hands on Spinel’s shoulders, “Please, I’ll do anything. I just can’t leave her like this.”

  
Spinel giggled, “Why should you care.” She stretched out one of her hands, grabbing Pearl’s cheek. “She’s just a mindless little slave, isn’t that right?”

Pearl replied, “I live to serve my Bismuth.” 

Now Bismuth was mad, “She’s not a slave, and that is not Pearl!” 

“Sure, sure lady whatever you say,” Spinel said.

I tried to intervene but Bismuth would have nothing of it, “This gem held you hostage, and threatened to destroy the Earth. She can help us to bring our friend back, and your going to sit their and pretend like she should have any choice in the matter.”

“I’m not saying that at all, I’m just saying maybe it’d be best if we knew why she did?”

Spinel looked up at Bismuth, “Hehe, we’ll see how much you want me to help her then.” She took a very deep breath and all three of our gems began to glow. 

  
**Next Time- Spinel’s Reflections**


	16. Sixth Day III

**1001 Nights in Their Garden**   
**The Sixth Day- Cherry 2.0**   
**Part III- Spinel’s Reflections**   
**Author’s Note- Apologies for the delay, I’ve been on the road for the last two days.**

_My name is Steven Universe, and as I peer back into Spinel’s past, I wonder just what she has seen to make her hate Pearl so much._

  
Pearl, Bismuth, and I, stood in one of the many wings of the palace on Homeworld. I had never been to it, but the aching familiarity of it was part of the reason I could never quite sleep comfortably there. Did Spinel feel the same way? I wasn’t sure but… that’s when it hit me that Spinel had vanished.

The room had to have been one of Mom’s. Its immaculate white marble contrasted with the hot pink of the tapestries on the walls depicting her. Even the rugs formed the shape of a Diamond. A large column stood in the center of the room and suspended there was a bubble with a familiar heart-shaped gemstone.

  
A door creaked open, and Mom entered followed by… I was puzzled into thinking aloud, “but that’s not my Pearl?” She had tight Pink Buns in her hair, the gem didn’t even so much walk as skip into the room. I felt like I had seen her somewhere but where that may have been eluded me. Our Pearl, added, “There are many Pearls throughout the galaxy, I must say for being a,” she pensively held her hand to her chin, “Say, what are you anyway?”

  
That made me smile despite the radical change in scenery, “Steven, Steven Universe.” 

She blinked, “What is a Steven?”

  
Bismuth whispered to her, and Pearl turned an odd shade of blue. “He’s a hybrid.” She whispered more and Pearl nearly lost her balance. “Of-of a Diamond. Yes. Of course.” 

The smith seemed confused, “Steven, what exactly are we seeing?”

“At a guess, I think this is Spinel’s memory?” I suggested. 

Bismuth seemed lost, “This kinda thing happen to you often?”

“Everyday this week.” I replied.

Mom with the Pearl following close behind her interrupted our train of thought. They were walking toward the pedestal. She asked the Pearl, “Are you sure we’re in the right place?”  
The Pearl checked her data pad and beamed, “Yes, most certainly my Diamond.”

“I wonder what they’ve brought me.” She paused, and looked back at her starry-eyed servant, “I know they have responsibilities to the empire, but, oh forget it.” She pressed forward, before the pearl reached up to grab one of her hands. 

She said, “My Diamond, I am at your service, if anything is bothering you,” but the Diamond shrugged it off. I could hear her thought which remained unsaid, I’m a Diamond I deserve to be with them! Am I just a joke to you!” It wasn’t quite what I saw when Connie and I were together, but I knew it hurt her.

_Connie, I guess I’m going to have a lot to figure out when all the dust settles. If it ever settles._

Mom popped the bubble and at the same moment as her Spinel materialized, mine shouted in my ear startling me. “Surprise!” Was what she said. I completely missed what she said in the memory.  
“Did you have to be so loud!” I shouted.

  
Her arm reached out and coiled itself over my mouth before I could continue. “Silly Pink.” She smiled holding a finger to her lips, “I missed you sooooooooo much.” What happened to her form? Why was she like she was during the first story I told her? More importantly, why was she that way with Mom now?”

  
Pearl looked at Bismuth, “Shouldn’t we be getting back to the shop, it really shouldn’t be unattended.”

  
“Don’t worry, I don’t think that we left. Steven?” She nodded toward me, hoping for an answer.

  
“Probably?” I stuttered out.

  
Pearl spoke up, “Oh dear, do you have any idea what’s going on? My Bismuth-“

  
Spinel barged in, “Well not that it’s any of my “Bismuth” but, that’s not who you were made for.” Her whole body shook with laughter as she giggled.   
Bismuth had to resist the urge to laugh, “Nobody own’s her.”

  
Spinel shouted in a sort of sing-song whine, “Wrooooonnnnnnggggggg!” I put a hand over her face.

  
Mom’s Spinel proceeded to do cartwheels around her and that other Pearl. She squeaked, and came on too strong, she was as overt about her affection as anyone could be. I looked back at my Spinel, who was watching intently to see what my reaction might be. I smiled, she came on strong but she meant well. When she wasn’t threatening to end life on earth as we know it. 

“What does any of this have to do with our Pearl?” Bismuth questioned.

  
Spinel looked oddly frank, “I missed her.” She pointed at that other Pearl as she followed the troop out, and the scene shifted with a flash from the heart on her chest.

  
We stood in the middle of the old garden, before I arrived and before the rot had set in. Spinel and that other Pearl were walking along, she was holding a parasol. The pair looked relaxed as they made their way along. Bismuth and Pearl found no more clarity in this dimension. My Spinel led me closer to the two in this vision. She said, “I adored Pink, and her Pearl. Whenever she would be off at a dance or learning stuff… she’d come here to see me.”

  
Bismuth and our Pearl were close by, the former said, “Really cared about her, huh?”

  
Spinel grabbed my hand, “I did, she was always so cheerful, her and Pink, and me… I was so happy to be friends with them. We’d play games for ages, but then something awful happened.”  
Pearl asked, not unsympathetically, “What?”

  
“Nobody ever told me. Pink said it wasn’t important. She hurt me.” Spinel fumed, “She never told me.” The ground shook under our feet as the memory changed again. “She never told me.” The gem started to cry, before pointing angrily at Pearl, “That’s when you became her replacement.”

  
This seemed to dispel the fog from Pearl’s eyes, “I was her replacement?”

**Next Time- Pearl's Reflections**


	17. Sixth Day IV

**1001 Nights in Their Garden**   
**The Sixth Day- Cherry 2.0**   
**Part IV- Pearl’s Reflections**

_I am a Pearl, one of thousands of servants born to serve with single minded devotion. My Bismuth has taken me to this horrid nightmare, though I know not why. They tell me that this new one is me from long ago, but in seeing her I feel a stabbing pain that threatens to tear me apart from the inside out._

  
The Spinel in the memory brightened as she saw the Pink Diamond. She jumped onto the new Pearl, “Yippee a new friend!” 

“My Diamond, help!” The new Pearl squealed.

  
Pink was amused, “It just means she likes you, Spinel come here.”

  
She hopped away in a chaotic flash saluting, “My Diamond.”

  
“This is my new Pearl, she’ll be with me from now on.”

  
“Oh?” Spinel lifted her head, and twisted it, looking as though she was searching for something lost. “So where’s the othah one?” No doubt she was looking for that friend of hers, the one for which I was an intended “replacement”.

  
“She… is gone.” The Diamond said.

  
“And good riddance if you ask me, I am far more qualified to serve my Diamond.” The Pearl said this and I had quite forgotten my composure. It all seemed so familiar, too familiar. I felt something warm on my shoulder. My Bismuth was looking worried, she wiped something from my eye, a tear.

  
The shorter one, the Steven had run over and was hugging me. My Bismuth said, “We’re here for you.” 

  
“No. No. That’s completely improper. I am to look after your well-being, that is the purpose of my…” She was distracted by the unfolding drama.

  
Her Diamond’s face was cold and seethed with anger. The Spinel paid her no heed and continued to move about in a jovial manner. Then she snapped, a dome appeared around the Spinel and slowly closed in. Spinel had a look on her face of sheer terror. Her body bounced off of the sides of the dome. “That Pearl is gone… broken… worthless, she was just a distraction just like you.”

  
The Spinel shivered, “I’m so sorry Pink, I just wanted to.”

  
Even the Steven looked worried as he tried to comfort his Spinel. I turned back to look at this vision of the past as the dome grew spikes and started to draw in. What followed was disturbing. “You all think I’m a joke don’t you! You and Blue and Pink, and and…”

  
That poor Spinel, to have been put through so much, but I still couldn’t see what I had done to anger her so. “Please I only wanna be your friend.” She cried, trying to understand why the Diamond who meant so much to her could be so cruel. Just as the spikes were about to drive themselves home, the whole thing vanished.   
Pink Diamond ran to Spinel and embraced her. “Spinel I am so sorry.” She sighed, “What’s gotten into me? I feel like I’m losing my mind.” She started to cry, “I’ll be shattered before I ever cause you harm again.” With that her memory faded into darkness.

  
A spotlight illuminated the Spinel who brought us here. The Steven was still holding her close, she whispered something to him that I couldn’t make out. Even my Bismuth was now focusing wholly on her. Not that it made me jealous! She pulled away from the hybrid.

  
“After that she doted on me and would come to play all the time.” Spinel said, though not happily.

  
“Be that as it may, why do you hate me?” I asked.

  
She cast me a dark, cold, look, that seemed utterly at odds with her appearance. Deadpan she said, “I neveh blamed ya for not caring for the sort of games I liked to play.” In the background, versions of us played out memories in dumb show. “Not once. I neveh even blamed ya for dragging her to meetings, dances, and the like, for leaving me alone.” Now the scenery changed to a bright, sunny day in the garden from before. Only one gem could be seen.

  
The gem was happy and seemed to be playing with no one in particular. She was bright pink and had four eyes and four arms. I remembered the disgust, and the jealously I felt. How I felt dismayed that they would do something so forbidden and personal. “She should’ve fused with me.” All the memories came flooding back at once.  
It was like being carried away by a flood as everything came back to me. The hope, the war, all the death destruction, treachery, and love I had experienced suddenly came back to me. I was me again, with all the burdens that I had taken with me through the centuries of my existence. 

Spinel glared through clenched teeth, in a sort of mad grin that reminded me of nothing so much as a crescent moon. “I might’ve known that’d do it. When will I learn?” She ran off with Steven following close behind.

  
“Waite up Spinel,” he said, and then he was gone. 

“You’re back?” Bismuth asked. 

“Eh, yes, what’d I miss?” 

She picked me up and lifted me over her head. “You’re back!”

I looked down at Bismuth’s smiling face. She had been like this as long as I could remember, cheerful in battle cheerful in defeat. “Hehe, can you put me down?” 

She looked at me quizzically, “Wait who own’s you?”

I was worried she’d throw me through the roof of the workshop when I said, “No one own’s me!”

She put me down and I started to frown. Spinel. I’m going to make things right with you, Pink loved you so much, and I- well staging Pink Diamond’s death wasn’t the only unforgivable thing I did. I had a reason to carry that secret with me. Cherry Topaz, I hated them, and let my jealousy rule me. I doubt she even knows to what extent I earned her hatred.

  
**Author’s Note: Thanks so much for reading, the Cherry 2.0 Arc is still going on, but next week’s chapter will be getting back to the original formula, and hopefully wrapping up the “Promises” story.**

  
**Next Time- The Sixth Night: Promises III**


	18. Promises III

**1001 Nights in Their Garden**   
**The Sixth Night- Cherry 2.0**

**Promises III**

**Author’s Note: Apologies for more multiparters than ever. Hope you like the first appearance of Cherry. I’m still not 100% on how I want to write her, so if they come off as a little much, please let me know. Thanks for reading.**

_I’m Spinel and I ran away from Steven. What does it matter? Pink’s Pearl was a friend and my friend was taken from me. That was supposed to be about me, but it just wound up being about that miserable clod. She’s the reason that I was never Cherry again._

I ran back to the only place that felt familiar. Fitting that after years of rottin’ in that awful place I’d just crawl right back to where she left me. I expected that old place, the one of rotted vines, and so like everything else, I was disappointed. No, it was still alive.

The fountains bubbled away in course, and the trees and flowers were bright and well-watered. There was a new brass of Steven on the bridge now. It looked like he was trying to catch me if I should fall in my balancing act. I shouted, “You mellow-dramatic clod, ya probably get your kicks doin’ this to me!” I wound up for the pitch, and my good arm became a spring. I was ready to knock his block off. My arm connected… but with no force. 

I sighed, and put my arm around the oddly life-like statue. “Ya know, it was a pleasure, a real trip, when I had my injector. Yesterday I had you, and I had this place. What’s funny is that I think I could’ve been happy. Don’t ya think?” He wasn’t being very wordy this evening.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that.” I said looking into his nondescript brass face. “You see I like being me… with… you…” I groaned and face palmed. “I’m Spinel your best friend, don’t I deserve to be the center of your world? Just the idea of you giving other people your time made me wanna.” I giggled playfully putting my arms up like a sparring Ruby, “rip ‘em to bits heh… I’m supposed to be important, I’m supposed to matteh… ya know?” I made a pleading gesture. “I mean I’m not about to brag but I’ve entertained Diamonds on Homeworld, yes those Diamonds,” I said to him, grabbing his metallic cheek.

Such a good listener I continued, “Pink and I, before we came here, we’d go to balls and even dance together. Once, I even did a routine that made Blue smile, of course that made her cry tears of joy which kinda flooded the palace. I tell ya Steven you shouldah heard those rubies as they panicked and sizzled.

The combination turned the palace into a sauna that didn’t dry for weeks. Yellow and White were sooooooo mad!” I looked at my deaf and dumb companion again. It’s good to have someone to share the good times with. Can’t say I’d mind telling you about the bad times either.”

Then there was a hand on my shoulder, “Well if it isn’t the real deal.” I said smiling. There was a glow, and that’s when everything got a little silly.

**###**

  
_That’s right ladies, gems, gents, everyone, everything on this dandy ball of mud. Your’s truly is finally here to tell you this story as I’d have it. So sit right there, don’t look at the blood curdling monster behind you, and be sure to leave your kudos, comment’s, and reviews. Be sure to mention what a darling your friend Cherry is, lest I be as forgotten as Petey, lest I be as hopeless as mayor Dewey’s reelection bid. Keep reading… you’re my only hope._

Thought I’d begin my adventure by finishing off our last adventure with my better and lesser halves. I believe they were in the grim predicament of drowning. Tisk tisk. Didn’t even bother to wear life jackets as the Kaiser’s finest descended upon them in such a way as to make the latest Dog Copter film seem like midseason filler on Lil Butler. You may be asking how they get out of this mess…. Weellllllll…. Hmmh…

See there was this big wave, a big purply gelatine wave, and they were carried with that chest of macguffins to this big beautiful tropical jungle, you know, the one from chapter one. That’s when this giant beast five hundred no thousand…. Wait just a tic’… Sorry sometimes I get just a teensy bit carried away. What can I say, that pink haired clod is always so scatterbrained. I suppose she can be a sweetie though, why else would Steven bother.

Where was I? Oh, yeah.

Steven felt time stop as the cart went over the docks. There was a moment of breathless, weightless clarity, and then the splash that made his world go black. He was out like a lamp, out cold, outta time, he was, scared that this would be the end. Scared for a million and one reasons, most of all though, he was scared that he could never see Spinel outside of the gloom and decay of the city that was an inferno behind him.

His friend, his partner, “my love.” That was his last thought before drifting off into everlasting slumber. Everlasting? Fat chance, not if “his love” had anything to say about it. Love ya Spinel but that was laying it on a little thick.

Spinel didn’t care about the cold. She felt the same in summer as she did in winter. Her gem powers made her far more durable than her friend. He was bound by the particulars of his meaty, fleshy, and sometimes smelly existence, and she wasn’t.  
  
The fall had destroyed their cart and smashed it to bits. It was ironic that the horses escaped without a scratch. “Just too bad.” Spinel would later recall, if there was a later. Smithereens flew in splashes, crashes and gurgles, as the business side of their partnership found itself pretty well sunk.  
  
Durable enough to survive, she was, but it took considerable effort to get over the shock of the thing. Her thoughts rang like church bells in her gem as it glowed. She cast the light on a graveyard. In happy, pardon, happier times the city’s harbor was revered as one of the best and deepest on the continent. Fifteen hundred years of history was now laid out in ghostly light.

Thousands of vessels, from wooden fishing-boats to iron-clad battle ships stretched in every visible direction. She felt lost, and she felt ruined. Then she saw two objects coming down in roughly the same area as she was. The chest and, “Steven!” She yelled, not that it did much good at this depth. The terrified pink noodle stretched for both.  
  
She pulled Steven close. The gem felt the subtle, slowing rhythm of his poor heart, about to give out from the strain. Stars, Steven you can do this! You can’t leave me here alone! You idiot I need you! She pressed her lips to his and the light grew brighter from her gem. Just before their minds formed into the delicious soup of consciousness that is yours truly, one thought went through her mind, impossible.

It is a fortunate thing that I inherited Bubblegum-for-Brain’s powers, or that was one payday we’d never see. We formed a bubble around that blasted trunk. And rode the bubble to the surface. The look must’ve been obscene, childish and ridiculous. I had a real ball you might say. Bouncing across the water in leaps and bounds. We headed west on the sea, jumping hundreds of feet into the air. Moment by moment, we finally put the past behind us. I got a teensy bit carried away. It felt good to be so close to each other, to be each other, together.

We had sinking feelings all that day, we were running from a human tsunami on horseback, then we sunk into the harbor, and as you might imagine it ended with us all washed up. Our bubble burst and we split on a tropical island.

Wherever we were, it was beautiful, the setting sun could be seen over the crashing clear waves  
  
Steven and Spinel were hurting from the days journey. Reluctantly, she crossed the sand and settled next to her, her… what exactly? “Hey Steven, you still on this side of the Pearly Gates?”

“Yeah Spinel, can I ask ya something?” He asked.

“Sure Stevie.” She added, too tired to quip.

“Were we someone else?” He said, too tired to weigh the implications.

“We were.” She said.

“And we used a bubble like a pogo stick across the waves?” He asked, coolly.

“Heh, yeah.” She said.

“So, you saved my ass again?”

“Don’t I always?” She giggled, even though it was all she could do to stay in physical form.

With great effort he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Will you marry me?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

**End of Promises**   
**Next Time- 7th Day**


	19. While Cherry Was Out

**The Seventh Day**   
**While Cherry Was Out**

  
Heya hi there, ho there! Its me again Cherry Topaz. I kinda wanted to cut loose so I let those two kiddos party in my sub conscious. Now you may be wondering: Cherry you beautiful curvaceous honey of a fusion, how does this work? You may ask why no other fusions can take control in this particular way? Well that’s a good question, but this party girl's gotta party. So enjoy this mandatory camping episode. Oh and don’t forget to tune in next week to find out what I was up to.  
Toodles!

  
When Spinel and Steven awoke they knew at once that something was not quite right. The sights and even the smells, the sound of the bubbling waters and fountains were much the same, but it was, for the two of them, like staring at a costume prop, a good one, but nothing more than a gilded lady.  
There was also a nearly imperceptible fog of something surgery sweet in the air that left the two mildly intoxicated. Nothing about any of this was unpleasant to either. Both felt as though they had slept as soundly as any night in their garden.

  
Spinel didn’t even feel the urge to pace, she was at total ease in Steven's arms. The thought simmered warmly in the back of her mind that an eternity of this would be wonderful. 

  
A sort of warmth flooded over both of their bodies like the mildest of sunburns. The couples worries were far away. Ideas just sort of floated like clouds around them as they barely stirred.

  
Like the best dreams and the worst nightmares the idea of a world beyond the confines of the immediate senses never occurred. Hedonistic wasn’t even the right word for it, hedonism would imply that there was some desire present, it was more like the Buddhist ideal of enlightenment without all the heartache of asceticism. 

  
For Steven and Spinel, their garden, as opposed to what they would only casually refer to as her garden was grounded. That actual place which existed in concrete and stone, in plant life, and rendering, was a reflection of who they are. This was something else entirely. What that might be eluded all but Cherry Topaz, and she’d never tell.

  
At length a figure approached, Connie. She adjusted her glasses and said, “There you are, come on everyone’s waiting for you at the park!”

  
The two only shrugged and followed her over a seemingly absurd number of biomes. Neither thought to actively comment on the pastel hills of purple and orange, or the lagoons of sparkling rainbow colored water where an occasional ripple could be seen of a fish with fine glossy fins that glowed in a feat of bioluminescence that had been a wonder of the galaxy in far ages past, but now only existed here. 

  
Steven made nothing of it as anything but a memory from Spinel's past. For Spinel it stirred something far different and though both had been thoroughly purged of the unpleasant feelings of life for this dream of a vacation, something almost akin to melancholy. Far in the distance she saw a field of shooting stars, come to consume the planet like a festering disease from a beautiful, gleaming, broken world.

  
Connie if this was Connie seemed to nearly skip with glee and hardly seemed to take anything. At some point she had disposed of her glasses and now seemed a little older. Here stride seemed more confident and she now had a sword slung on her back that Steven recognized in the sweet sluggish way familiar to anyone awakening from a dream.  
Finally dawning on Steven, he thought to ask, “Where are we going?”

  
“Like I said, the park. You really should pay more attention.” She said. The landscape had changed in the twinkling of an eye to a dense jungle. She too had changed and now was Stevonnie, and hacking her way through the brush with a sword.

  
Spinel had regained enough consciousness to fidget, “I don’t get it, who are you? Connie? Or someone else?”

  
She smiled as they trudged over the strewn rocks in an ancient river bed. “Would you believe that the answer is yes on all counts?”   
Steven scratched his head, “Spinel I think maybe she's my Connie.” He said it in a way that was confident, but in a way that left them both unable to dive further. 

  
Connie, she was Connie again, turned and winked as they made their way through the large echoing chamber of a gem warship. Buzzing robots and staff stood at dozens of monitors which here was little more than window dressing. 

  
“You got it Steven, though I guess I’m just as much a figment of Spinel's memory. I suppose you have my thanks that I haven't become some sort of Femme Fatale bent on wresting you from the clutches of a gem that held your entire planet hostage.” She added a certain amount of melodrama that was good natured all the same. 

  
“So whose waiting for us past this… erh…”, she gestured to a ship an unfolding space battle that was one of the more harrowing ordeals of his long tenure as a tetrarch.  
“Everyone else of course. I suppose we could go straight there but, well I suppose this place is no less a being than I am. In that sense I guess you could call me a thread in the labyrinth.”

  
Spinel was dumbfounded, her first reaction was to cut through things, but it was like she’d forgotten some crucial word in a language. It left her emotionally amputated, only now did she realize that Steven was holding her hand. The positivity of the simple act cut to the heart of things. 

  
When the room traveled hazily away to the miasma of the collective memory they realized that they were tramping snow in what appeared for all the world like a European town. Spinel changed almost at once into the fox of a woman she had been a few days prior. 

  
“I guess even our stories are here.” He said, though to no one in particular.

  
Connie, who was now dressed as a Princess said, “You two are the authors!”

“Steven?” Spinel asked.

  
“Yeah?” He returned.

  
“Is this real?” A good enough question.  
If he'd been in touch with the more unpleasant elements of the lessons drilled into him by Pearl in his youth he might’ve said any number of old phrases as helpful as hot air. Very probably he would've noted some cliché such as Cogito ergo sum. 

  
The truth was somewhat easier for gems. Not having the mortal coil to shuffle off in any real sense, not needing to breath air, drink water, or eat, and being much the same at the bottom of the ocean or the void of space. Steven did have all those human flaws. All of it boiled down to the big dumb truth, “I’m not sure it matters if you’re here with me.” He replied.

  
“Good answer.” She said as they now walked into an altogether ordinary meadow park where old and new friends were engaged in all the traditional things against the backdrop of the sunshine.

  
Lars and the off colors were tossing a baseball off at one end while Greg was cooking hot dogs on a grill. In the creek all of the local kids were running toy ships down a creek, and a lapis was making the whole thing more exiting by lifting the creek wholesale off of its bed and letting the ships spiral and dance down the streams in an incredible display.

  
Peridot was having a less exciting go of it as she seemed fixated on a butterfly that seemed to flutter just out of reach. Others reclined on picnic blankets while a select few, friends of Steven from a far off world literally bloomed in the sunlight. A lone being seemed to barely be present at all, appearing more like a sentient shadow than the invisible being that he was. It was pleasant day, and they made the most of it.

  
***

  
So yeah, gave them a pleasant little vacation didn't I? Swell, just swell. And while they were out, I decided to give the performance of a lifetime. What can I say I'm tickled pink.


End file.
